Sam Hughes says he and his Chester FC teammates can now look forward to the remainder of the Vanarama National League season.
The Blues all but secured their status in non-league football’s top tier for another season with a 1-0 success at 10-man Torquay United on Saturday, a victory that took them to 52 points and surpassed the target of 50 points set by manager Jon McCarthy at the start of the season.
Ninteen-year-old Hughes, who captained the side once again, was the hero for the Blues at Plainmoor, rifling home a deflected 25-yarder 10 minutes from time to seal the points for Chester.
The win, Chester’s third away triumph on the spin, banished any lingering fears of becoming embroiled in a relegation battle and lifted the Blues up to 13th and in touch with the top 10.
“It’s been an up and down second half to the season and we went on a bit of a bad run but we needed that win,” said Hughes.
“I think we can relax a little bit now. We can not look behind us too much now but we can look forward now and try and put a few more points on the board and try and get into the top 10.
“This season has just been mad. Everyone talks about that good run we went on (one defeat in 17 league games) but people remember us losing seven out of eight games, but that’s just football.
“Winning at Torquay has given us confidence. We got that little bit of luck that we haven’t had for a while and I think it’s massive for us going into the game with York.”
Chester played against 10 men for the entirety of the second half on Saturday after Myles Anderson saw red for scything down James Alabi when clear on goal just before the break.
The home side, in desperate need of the points in their relegation battle, stymied the Blues threat and the game looked to be heading for a stalemate until Hughes let fly from 25 yards, with his effort taking a wicked deflection off the head of Sean McGinty and past Torquay keeper Brendan Moore.
The nature of the goal and Hughes’ decision to celebrate in style saw plenty of jibes from his teammates, not that it bothered the in-demand defender.
“I got a load of stick from the lads, telling me the deflection was so bad it went down as an own goal,” said Hughes, whose contract expires in the summer.
“I don’t score many so I was definitely going to celebrate the way I did. Somehow it ended up in the back of the net, the space just opened up in front of me and I decided to let it fly.”
Hughes, who is on the radar of clubs including Burnley, Swansea City and Crystal Palace, was captain once more in the absence of Luke George and expressed his continued pride at wearing the armband.
He said: “It’s massive for me to wear the captain’s armband but it doesn’t change anything for me. I just want to be a key part of the team and do my best to help lead the lads. We want this season to be seen as a success.”
