CHRISTLETON are hoping to kick-start their season following an important victory over fellow Division One strugglers Ellesmere Port.
Saturday’s 3-1 win, which moves the Swans up to 13th, has filled manager Paul Hughes with hope that his side can string together a series of results to continue their upward momentum.
Despite suffering a major setback with captain Shaun O'Rourke out injured, Christleton produced a polished second half performance against the Port to secure all three points.
Boss Hughes, whose side take on Castrol Social tomorrow, said: “We’re looking increasingly solid as a unit, we’re starting to form a good shape to our side.
“Having Shaun [O’Rourke] out wasn’t ideal but Steve Hampinson filled in at the back and performed magnificently, especially considering it was his debut.”
Hughes added: “We have a strong team and we have a really good set of players here now. On Saturday I took them in and had a word with them at half time, and we came out in the second half and within 25 minutes we’d killed the game off.”
Hughes will be hoping that the in-form Steve Finley can continue to fire on all cylinders in front of goal tomorrow, having bagged a brace against Ellesmere Port before Paul Fraser added a third.
Rock bottom Blacon YC fell to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Newton, with Mike Mackin’s effort proving to be little more than a consolation for the Chester hosts.
Upton AA went down 2-0 at home to Poulton, who subsequently leapfrogged them to fourth place in the table.
Division Two strugglers Chester Nomads were defeated 4-2 at home to Bebington Athletic despite goals from Dale Harris and Dan Riley.
In Division Three, St Werburgh’s lost 2-0 at home to FC Pensby while a brace from Andy Shilton was enough to ensure Upton AA Reserves saw off Focus with a 2-1 away win.
Helsby progressed to round three of the Haworth & Gallagher Bowl after an action packed 5-4 win over Capenhurst Villa. Nick Askey (2), Liam Page, Darren Moore and Gary Lunt found the net for Helsby, while Jamie Johnson, Ryan Nicholl and Mike Hayes (2) will be left disappointed that their team are out of the competition despite scoring four times.
