CHESTER FC last night put pen to paper on a lucrative sponsorship deal that will see their home ground be re-christened the Exacta Stadium.

The Blues have agreed a five-year contract with leading business rates company Exacta PLC, whose national headquarters are based in Chester, to rename the Deva Stadium.

With MBNA already signed up as a shirt sponsor, the deal further underlines the massive strides the club has made since rising from the ashes of Chester City FC.

Blues chief executive Steve Ashton said: “The club will receive significant financial benefit from this agreement over the next five years, and once again we thank a locally-based business for their support.”

Although the finer details of the agreement have not been made public, the money from the deal is enough to put the club in a strong financial position as it attempts to climb back up the English football pyramid.

Exacta chief executive Stuart Murphy sponsored Chester City’s shirts in the 2004-05 season through a previous company called Truetone.

Having returned to the Deva in the summer to watch the reborn club’s pre-season friendly with Tranmere Rovers, he could not wait to get on board once again.

He said: “Exacta are delighted to support Chester FC and join the club on their journey back up the leagues. We are a locally-based, national company keen to support the supporter-owned club.”

The stadium renaming ceremony took place at Chester’s big homecoming clash with Trafford last night.

Murphy’s friend, the ITV presenter Matt Smith, was scheduled to attend, as was Match of the Day 2 host Colin Murray and former footballers Perry Groves and Pat Nevin (see page 94 for full story).

After last night’s razzmatazz, Blues players are now turning their focus to Saturday’s home match against Garforth Town (3pm kick-off).

While he is not taking the rock-bottom West Yorkshire outfit for granted, Neil Young expects nothing less than three points.

The Chester manager said: “Without being disrespectful, Garforth are one of the lesser lights in the division.

“They work hard and they’ve got some good young kids, but we expect to win the game.”

The match will be preceded by a minute’s applause for long-serving Chester fan and City Fans United member Steve Hendry.

The 54-year-old died of a heart attack but, rather than asking for flowers at his funeral, his family and friends requested donations towards his beloved Blues.

Steve’s sister Alyson Roberts and his daughters Emma and Kate will hand over a cheque worth £700 to the club at the game.

The Blues head to Bamber Bridge on Tuesday (7.45pm).