Hockey: Five-star Chester make light of conditions

Dec 5 2008 Chester Chronicle

Hockey: Five-star Chester make light of conditions

IN fog and freezing temperatures, Chester turned up the heat for a clear 5-0 victory against Bolton in Manchester.

Bolton’s physical game was overcome by Chester’s superior play in the second North League Division One meeting between the sides this season.

Sean Blaine and Matty Hyden made it 2-0 before the break.

A rare John Roper goal made it three after the restart and a second goal for the prolific Hyden was followed by a calm finish from Stevie Hall to give Chester victory.

Second-placed Chester host Crewe Vagrants tomorrow before taking on leaders Sheffield University Bankers in a top-of-the-table clash on December 13.

Chester 2nds fought back to share the points with a 3-3 draw against Wigan at CCO.

Wigan opened the scoring through a penalty corner and took advantage of poor Chester passing to force a second corner which was deflected into the goal by the Chester post man.

Chester responded when Thomas smashed home a Chester penalty, but Wigan responded with another penalty corner of their own.

In the second half, Chester’s O’Gorman rampaged down the flank resulting in Shore converting a well worked corner. Thomas was then cynically hacked down when bearing in on goal and ice cool Spencer slipped the resulting flick through the defender’s legs.

Chester 5ths suffered a crushing 7-1 defeat at Macclesfield 3rds. Carl Lee scored Chester’s only goal when his team were already seven down in a miserable afternoon blighted by fog which forced errors from the visitors. With the regular captain unavailable, ex-captain Jon Feeney took the reins and awarded himself man of the match.

Chester 6ths were hammered 6-0 by Llandudno 2nds in another game hindered by fog and cold. Chester’s normally solid defence was not as alert as their younger opponents and by half time they were 4-0 down. Although Llandudno were subdued in the second half, they scored two more goals.

Chester Veterans lost 3-2 to Oulton & West Warwick in the Men’s Vintage Cup. A tough, uncompromising Midlands side overcame Chester despite stout defending and quickfire attacks by Chester. Chances were missed until the returning Bob McComb lashed the ball into the goal.

Late on, Chester succumbed to their fitter opponents but grabbed a fine short corner goal from Ible and then lay siege to the Midlanders’ goal for the final 10 minutes.

Chester Ladies’ game was off due to poor weather.

Chester Ladies 3rds were beaten 4-2 by Timperley, a team they had registered a 5-0 victory over earlier the same week. Jess Egan and Juliette Old scored for Chester against a very different line-up. Player of the match was Alicia Hogan.