HOCKEY: CHESTER Ladies made the long trip to Southampton worthwhile by winning 4-2 on Saturday.
They took the game from the whistle and never let it go. They camped in their opponents' half and it was only a matter of time before the goals started going in.
Laura Millar was brought down by the Southampton goalkeeper to allow Pat Wells to convert a penalty to put the visitors in front and the second goal came from Debbie Roper after a solo run ended with a flick at goal.
Chester's confidence was challenged by a short-corner routine by Southampton from which a goal was scored, but they responded well with a goal from captain Michelle Daltry just before half time.
The second half was eventful with two Chester players controversially sent off at the same time, but they were strong and an amazing run and pass by Donna Jones enabled Katie Mount to put in a fourth goal before Southampton replied with their second.
Chester go to Swansea tomorrow.
Chester seconds drew 0-0 with South Cheshire and need to beat Acton tomorrow to avoid relegation.
Chester thirds did well to draw 1-1 with leaders Didsbury, Jenny Watters scoring a deserved equaliser. Player of the match was Katie Knowles.
Chester men's fifths recorded their first win of the season with a hard-fought 2-1 result against Macclesfield thirds.
Nick Denbigh scored first for Chester after Simon Nicol harried the Macclesfield defence. By half time Macclesfield had pulled a goal back and in the second half the Chester defence soaked up pressure with Macclesfield awarded a series of short-corners from which a goal was disallowed.
Jon Feeney was pushed into attack after Nicol was injured and with five minutes left he sent the ball hurtling into the bottom right hand corner. nTop performing sides for Deeside Ramblers were the U11 and U13 squads. The U11s beat Bowdon 2-1 in the county seven-a-side final with goals from Harry Dodd-Moore and Ben Leaman, while the U13 squad were losing finalists to Bowdon but qualify with the U11s for the North Championship finals at Durham on April 17.
Ramblers' men's first team took early control of the game against Chester and were 2-0 ahead at half time with goals from Jimmy Lewis and Will Mumme-Young.
In the second half Ramblers failed to capitalise on their opportunities and Chester rallied to equalise.
The seconds trailed 3-0 to Chester at the break, and a Phil Brown consolation goal was too little, too late as Chester hung on to win 3-1. Debutants Andy Kirk and Phil Johnson put in good performances for Deeside.
An early short-corner converted by Ian Forster gave Ramblers' fifth team the lead against Bramhall and Alastair McAulife put the result beyond doubt with a well-taken goal midway through the second half.
Deeside's sixth team overwhelmed Chester 7-0 with goals by Nick Worrall (3), Arthur Fearnall (2) and Ollie Allen (2), all but one coming in the second half.
Ramblers' Badgers led 1-0 at half time against Chester with a Will Wilson goal and in the second half Matthew Skellhorn was on target to complete the scoring in a 2-0 win.
Ramblers' ladies second team put in an excellent performance against Lockwood Park to gain a 5-0 win. Sally Bell led the rout with four goals and Lucy Swe added the other. nChester and District continued their run of form by beating Bollington 3-1. They had a long period of sustained pressure in the first half and breached the Bollington back line with an excellent goal from midfielder Vicki Clark.
Throughout the second half District continued to press hard and were rewarded with two more goals. Sarah Pengelly struck from a cross from the right and Alison Ritchie was the fast-est to react to a parried shot from a penalty corner.
District were unlucky to concede a late goal.Vicki Clark was named District's best player.
