Jon McCarthy is urging Chester FC fans to be the ‘12th man’ when they entertain Tranmere Rovers on Friday.
The Blues take on promotion-chasing Rovers under the lights at the Lookers Vauxhall Stadium (7.45pm) in a game that will be shown live on BT Sport.
Chester ended a four-game losing sequence in the Vanarama National League with a 1-0 win at Southport on Saturday but will go into the clash with Mickey Mellon’s side as underdogs with the Wirral outfit gunning for a return to the Football League come the end of the season.
With Tranmere lying fourth in the league, Mellon is faced with a must-win clash at Chester, but McCarthy insists his players won’t roll over and wants the crowd to lift them to a famous win.
“I know how it goes when you don’t win games and we went through a rough spell but that is when we really need the fans and they need to know how huge they can be for us and how much the players feed off it,” said the Chester boss.
“Let’s have a song about Alex Lynch, let’s have a song about Sam Hughes, let’s have a song about Ryan Astles, let’s get ‘come on City’ ringing round the ground. The fans are our 12th man and we will need them on Friday night.”
Chester came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 in the corresponding fixture at Prenton Park in November in a memorable game that saw Astles fire in a late leveller to send the travelling 1,200 fans wild.
And McCarthy highlights that as the moment when he knew just how far the football club could go and is hoping for a similar scenario when the two sides meet on Friday in a game set to attract a crowd of over 4,000.
“That was the strongest connection that the fans have had with this group of players and it was a moment where I knew we were on to something and when our players knew they were playing for a big football club with a big history,” said McCarthy.
“The win against Southport has given us a little bit of breathing space while the pressure is on Tranmere to deliver, so we will be going for it and trying to create a memorable evening for the fans.
“This group of players has been superb for me and I want them to have that type of connection again and help us finish the season strongly. We want a bumper crowd there on Friday.”
