CHESTER captain Andy Murphy expressed extreme anger after his young side were bullied out of their game with City of York.

Their opponents employed a physical strategy, drawing Chester in to a 3-2 defeat.

Murphy said: “It was extremely disappointing. We were drawn in by a team that came to physically intimidate us and we got destroyed. We’ve got a young side and we were 3-0 down with 20 minutes to go.

“York play a very physical style – they play on the line but they’re not a dirty team.”

At 2-0 down at half-time, Chester needed to find something and it came in the form of Tim Hewson, before Chris Platts got a second.

But a yellow card for dissent over an umpiring decision put the game beyond them despite Chester being in the ascendency.

Murphy added: “We shut our mouths and got on with the game.

“We need to learn to play against physical teams better. We play well when teams come to play hockey against us but we get wound up. We need to give a little back.”

Chester, currently fourth, next travel to third-placed Wakefield. They will be able to call upon star attacker Tim Davies, who is returning after being out for 10 games through injury. Phil Roper will also return from the England squad.

After slotting home six against Neston last week, the ladies’ second string came to earth with a bump in the return fixture.

Despite having most of the possession, they lost 3-2, conceding a third without enough time to equalise.

With a slightly different line-up, Chester looked a little off the pace to begin with but soon managed to get on top of the game. They took the lead but Neston equalised against the run of play when the keeper was left exposed.

The game became scrappy and Chester’s heads dropped, leading to another Neston goal. Chester then came out fighting and were rewarded with an equaliser, but Neston took advantage of defensive confusion to take the lead. Chester play Brooklands next week in confident mood.

The men’s 4ths played Bramall 3rds but failed to take advantage of their superior possession.

Chester gave a disjointed performance and while defending well, they did not threaten the Bramall goal often enough. Strike force Richard Nicholas and Paul Mannion regularly beat their opponents but failed to turn promising positions into shots on goal or dynamic passes for others to score. In a very rare attack, Bramall endeavoured to bundle the ball into Chester’s net but it came via a foot.