SIX players rested in the early rounds of a cup competition is something Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea are nowadays renowned for - but Chester City?
It wasn't that City boss Ian Rush didn't take the LDV Vans Trophy seriously, just simply that he had faith in the squad.
Danny Collins, Wayne Brown, Darren Edmondson, Ben Davies, Stewart Drummond and Sean Hessey were all rested as Rush juggled his troops. Richard Hope and Rob Booth made their first starts for the club, while Kevin McIntyre, Andy Harris, Chris MacKenzie and Stephen Vaughan were given the nod.
'They've been superb in training and playing for the reserves and now they can't say they've not been given a chance,' said Rush.
Rush's gamble paid dividends. Hope, signed this summer from York, looked solid at the back and scored a cracking header on 66 minutes to equalise Steven MacLean's goal in the 29th minute. McIntyre, back from injury, and Kevin Ellison combined excellently down the left, the latter putting himself forward as an early contender for goal of the season with a wonderful left-foot strike from 25 yards to win the tie 22 minutes from time.
Chester never allowed the Wednesday side, the same 11 who had won 3-0 at Wrexham last Saturday, to settle. MacKenzie, deputising for Brown, had just one save to make from Chris Brunt and Phil Bolland made one excellent goalline clearance. Other than that, the York-shiremen were kept quiet.
Lower-league teams occasionally sneak a win against more illustrious opponents by nicking a goal and then hanging on while the kitchen sink is thrown at them, but not the Blues on Wednesday.
Make no mistakes, City were good value for the win.
