BOBBY Williamson pledged to hold an inquest into Chester’s defending after watching his team ship five goals in a Boxing Day horror show at Morecambe.
All four of the Shrimps’ first-half goals came from right-wing corners from former Chester winger Michael Twiss – and Williamson later vowed to study a video of the match to find out exactly what went wrong.
The Chester manager said: “I’ll look at the tape probably three or four times before I confront the players again.”
Two of the three goals Morecambe scored at Hereford on Saturday came from corner kicks by Twiss, so it wasn’t as if Chester hadn’t been warned about his ability from set-pieces.
Williamson admitted that some of his players “relinquished their duties” on the day, adding: “If you don’t mark in the right areas and you have good quality coming in, then you can suffer – and they had good quality. The balls into the danger area were of a standard that we don’t really see at this level. The player that’s put those balls in will not be here very long. He troubled us all afternoon.”
The Blues trailed 4-1 at the break and went 5-1 behind before late strikes from Kevin Ellison – his second of the game – and Chris Holroyd put a slightly more respectable gloss on the scoreline at 5-3.
Although the game was out of reach by the time of his 54th-minute arrival as a substitute, Holroyd turned in an eye-catching performance and could have forced his way into contention for a starting role in tomorrow’s match at Brentford – particularly as Williamson has three senior strikers nursing knocks.
The City boss said: “I’m really pleased for Chris. He’s got a real quality goal and could have had three. Chris has got a big future in the game and if he keeps attacking teams like he did against Morecambe, then obviously he’ll be well in my thoughts.”
Williamson sprang a selection surprise by handing 18-year-old Glenn Rule his Football League debut at Christie Park, deploying the Birkenhead-born youngster in a three-man central midfield alongside fellow teenager Kevin Roberts and Mark Hughes.
Williamson, who substituted Rule early in the second half, explained: “Glenn’s been doing really well in the youth team. I felt that with the lack of personnel in the middle of the park, I just felt we needed another body in there to deal with the player who would play off the front. But once we went so many goals behind, we had to change our shape.”
Chester City have set a date for their FA Youth Cup tie with Tottenham Hotspur. The fourth-round fixture will take place at White Hart Lane on Tuesday, January 8 (7pm).
