Double trouble for City

Jan 30 2009 by David Triggs, Chester Chronicle

THE Blues are gearing up for back-to-back home meetings with two of League Two’s promotion chasers.

A visit from Gillingham tomorrow will be followed on Tuesday by a north-west derby with Rochdale – and both games are sure to test a severely depleted Chester squad.

Laurence Wilson begins a three-match ban for his sending off at Port Vale, while Glenn Rule – also dismissed at Vale Park – starts a two-match suspension.

Kevin Ellison and James Vaughan – now free of a ban of his own – are in line to fill the wing-back positions. But there are other selection problems for boss Mark Wright, as both Damien Mozika (hamstring) and Shaun Kelly (knee) are ruled out. They join Paul Butler and Stephen Vaughan on the treatment table, while Eddie Johnson is not being considered as he thinks over a move to Austin Aztects in America.

Wright said: “It’s hard for us at the moment but it’s nothing we can’t handle and nothing we can’t overcome.

“The most important thing is to forget about the other night at Port Vale and focus on the next game, because Gillingham is going to be another hard game. We’ve just got to make sure we do the right things and perform like we have done at Darlington and Bradford and Lincoln.”

Wright was highly critical of Wilson for the needless two-footed lunge which brought him a red card at Vale Park, ruling him out of three matches at a time when City are short of players.

“It is a stupid, absolutely brain-dead sending off from Laurence Wilson,” said Wright. “We felt pretty much in control, then all of a sudden he gets sent off.”

Two Blues players will have to watch their step tomorrow if they are to avoid picking up unwanted suspensions. Both Paul Linwood and Kevin Roberts have now received four yellow cards each this season – putting them one card away from an automatic one-game ban.