One step closer to that title...

It's been a busy old 10 days and that's why I've not had chance to blog recently, so here we go time to catch up, and a lot to catch up on, the win at Chorley, the Cup defeat at Lancaster, and the win against Durham, which sees the Blues go nine points clear at the top of the table.

So, Chorley first.

Let's get the ugly out of the way first, and a lot has been said already about the scenes at Victory Park, and I'm not going to talk too much about it as it is all being dealt with behind the scenes, but let's just say that scenes like that should never have been allowed to happen on the day, and steps should have been taken to have a police presence inside the ground given the way the match was being built up.

The statement that we came out with was labelled by one individual on a forum as "pathetic" yet to everyone else it was bang on and as diplomatic as we could make it. I think that individual would have created quite possibly the most unprofessional had he been given the task of doing the statement - and that is why we have a bunch of more than decent people running the club, as they can help keep the club looking professional by casting eyes over suggested statements and offering amendments where necessary.

A great away following at 1-0 Victory Park

It would have been completely the wrong thing to do to go out all guns blazing with a statement that blamed everyone else, except ourselves - we needed to get our own house in order before complaining about others, however that statement did register our dissatisfaction at what we'd seen at Chorley.

We could have come out with a knee jerk reaction to the events, but instead the extra few days following that statement release gave us the chance to let the dust settle, and then really get stuck into what happened that day, and put our feelings across - hence why my ugly mug found it's way onto the Chester Leader and Chester Standard too - that flippin picture wasn't exactly my finest hour either!

We've obviously written to the police and made our feelings known pretty clearly there, and we await to see what response we get. One thing I will say though is how hard hitting the Chronicle was last Thursday, and no-one should have to witness things like that, and as for the last comments by a Chorley 'fan'...well I'm not even gonna say anything, apart from the fact the lad should be embarrassed to actually be part of their supporters trust.

Are you Judgey in disguise?

I decided to jump on the Team Bus last Saturday as it was a big day and fancied doing a Q&A on Twitter with the players, and there were some great questions, including one for Adam Judge - had he ever been called Michael Buble before - he did laugh, and surprisingly said "yes" - although perhaps the funniest one was for Brad Barnes, who was the last person to call him Tom Cruise? About 5 of the lads all said at the same time, "himself!".

We then arrived at Chorley's ground only to be told to drive round the estate again, it became a farce in the end as we were directed to exactly the same point we'd been at before!

As for the game itself, well what a nervous ending, but what a great noise in behind the goal, and after the debacle of everyone getting white on their backs thanks to the newly painted turnstiles (why???), it was time to get the voice going and lots of singing was the order of the day, but those missed chances in the first half got you thinking was it going to be our day?

Well the second half proved it was, and in the distance great to see Wildey chasing down the defenders and forcing the error which led to Boothy scoring what turned out to be the winner, as everyone in the Chester end went delirious with delight.

Only 5 minutes injury time??

The rest of the game was a case of hoping we'd get that second goal, but the longer it went on, we knew we were approaching Flitcroft time, and when the board went up for 5 minutes, we just knew this was going to be a tense ordeal, and so it proved, but also proved how calm Chester remained under pressure - granted there were 2 good chances for the home side, but other than that, we just threw bodies in the way of everything, and the sweet sound of that final whistle signalled the fact that we were now well clear of Chorley in the table. Satisfaction.

The atmosphere inside the changing room was clear to hear, some very happy lads in there, although there was natural concern for Iain Howard who had gone off to hospital.

As I said, a lot of has been said about the aftermath, so I won't comment further on that.

So, the table looked great after that victory, and next up would be the President's Cup Semi Final at Lancaster, which sadly I couldn't make so had to follow the game on Twitter, and what a disastrous start, down to 10 men so early in the game, and the resulting penalty putting us one down.

Fair play to the lads for pulling it back though, and also good to hear that our hosts were extremely welcoming - as most have been this season wherever we've gone - and hearing that we'd equalized got the hopes going that we'd score another before the end to allow us to reach a Final for the first time in nearly a decade, but it wasn't to be as we were beaten in extra time and a long and late journey back for the lads.

Speaking to Chris Williams on Saturday at the game, and he said he got back at just after 2am then up for work at 8am, the joys of being a part time footballer hey?

Great to see Greg Stones & Michael Wilde take part in the Mobile Soccer Stadia event at Flint on Thursday night, Greg was very keen to promote this as he works for the Flintshire Youth Justice Service, and great for our players to be out there in the Community supporting initiatives like this.

Also on Thursday, an interview with Dee 106 to cover based on the events at Chorley, but had to wait until after work that one as it had been a very busy one for me on Thursday, well all week really!

Onto Friday, and the usual promoting of the Dee 106 Friday Night Footy Show on facebook & twitter, but lots of other stuff going on Friday too meant that the official website was a busy one, with the match preview and also the news that the players were going to do a signing session for the kids before the Durham game - a move we decided to make based on the fact that many children were involved in the scary scenes at Chorley, and we wanted to make them feel that they were extremely welcome at Chester Football Club, and their support has been great all season, with lots of them being decked out in blue and white!

Then to Saturday, and as usual a busy pre match, that saw John Kelly in as our Legend of the Week, my clearest memories of John in a Chester shirt are the goals against Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup at Sealand Road, the Owls were in the top league at the time, and Lee Chapman was playing for them, but JK put us 1-0 up after just 7 minutes as Harry's boys tore into their visitors, in the same season that we beat Wrexham twice in the Cup of course.

Chapman though got them back on level terms though thanks to a foul on Billy Stewart which the ref never blew for, and they held out for a replay which they beat us 3-1 in of course.

The other goal I seem to recall JK scoring is the one that went in off his arse I think, against Man Utd in the 'official' opening of the Deva Stadium back in 1992!

Anyway, the busy pre match stuff was done, and now onto the game, a match of course that on paper we should have won comfortably - so I took my seat. That was the problem, my superstition is normally to stand at games, but this time I took a seat, and Durham promptly scored, so that was it back to my feet, and standing by the door, and thankfully Simmo scored at the end of what was a dismal first half to watch.

The Ruffer keeps Chorley in his pocket

So, to the second half , and this time Chester were putting much more together, and it didn't take long before the Ruffer put us 2-1 up, even if it did come with the help of a deflection, although I'm sure he'd disagree with that - but I thought Ruffer had a superb game on Saturday with some crunching challenges.

Then the agonising wait for a third goal we all knew was needed, having seen a few 2-2's already this year we didn't want another, so we were all naturally delighted when Kyle took his goal very well indeed, and nice one in off the far post, and that was that - the points were in the bag.

A quick look at the other scores told us that Skem & Fylde were winning, but Curzon who always seem to have about 2 or 3 games in hand on us were losing, and so it transpired, and the Blues went 9 points clear at the top, and 11 clear of Chorley, who didn't play.

So, a quick drink in the bar after the game, before settling down for the night and reflecting on another match down, 16 to go, and hopefully not too much longer before we can all start to celebrate a championship win!

January hoodoo well and truly buried now

So, it was back to the Exacta Stadium on Saturday for our third game at home in a row, but plenty going on in the week building up to the game.

First off, we almost had a visit from the BBC on the cards again, with another presenter from BBC Radio 5 potentially coming down to see the Blues in action, however, this time we couldn't quite get that one secured so that will hopefully take place in the not distant future instead.

The Lord Mayor with Bill Oddie

Plenty of calls & e-mails this week with the Chester Chronicle & the Chester Leader as we were preparing for the visit of the Lord Mayor & Lady Mayoress on Saturday, the first time they would be visiting the Exacta Stadium, so we were naturally keen to impress.

On Thursday, a quick interview with the Chester Leader in my lunch hour at work, they were after an update on where we were, although it would have been nice for the person on the other end of the phone to at least know we were top of the league at the present time!

Midweek also saw us having to consider whether or not to deploy the pitch covers for the game on Saturday, and we studied the weather forecasts, and the decision was made to place the covers down as a precautionary measure on Friday, after the lads had trained the night before on the hallowed turf, and I'm reliably informed that around 20 people came down to the Exacta on Friday afternoon to help.

What we weren't expecting during midweek was the news that Chris Simm was made available for transfer, and Neil was in there like a shot to secure the services of the player who had impressed for our promotion rivals Chorley, and also for Conference side Southport, and so the news was broken on Wednesday night about our new signing - great news.

Question at that point was would he be eligible for Saturday, and that was of course confirmed the next day when the paperwork was complete and Chris would go straight into the squad to face Ossett Albion, probably not the news they wanted to hear!

Friday then, and time to tune into the Friday Night Football Show on Dee 106, and a quick text to Shane Pinnington to announce our thanks to the volunteers who had been down at the Stadium in the afternoon to lay down the covers.

Get well soon Richie lad!

During the show, Chris Pilsbury - fresh from his appearance on the Seals Podcast on Thursday night's recording - told of the situation with board member Richard Wightman. I think it's fair to say the board were in shock when we received an e-mail on Thursday morning advising that Rich was seriously ill in hospital, following a kidney failure - Rich has been a major part of the success of Chester FC, and he doesn't deserve any of the suffering that he is going through right now, and the sooner he is out of intensive care the better, and we hope to see Rich again very soon - all CFC fans I'm sure share that sentiment.

So, Saturday morning arrived then, and up at 8.30 to get some brekky and a shave before heading down to the Exacta - and thanks to being stuck behind a car going 20mph down Lache Lane, I didn't get there until about 9.40am, and straight into the ground to see that the cover removal operation was in full swing, so straight into it with everyone else, and an hour later all done, game on.

Back in the office with Barrie Hipkiss we shared a joke or two before taking a few calls from fans anxious to see if the game was still on, so pleased was I to give them the good news!

Delish!

So, before heading home, a quick stop at the burger van on Bumpers Lane for a Bacon & Sausage bap, and taking one home for the Mrs too, and my god, it was heavenly - as was the cuppa that Mrs B had made for me when I got home too!

Just an hour to spare then before getting ready and heading off back to the Exacta, and once there it was time to sort out the usual pre match stuff, and welcome the legend of the week, who this week was former Blue, Ian Edwards - and he was made up to be here again, accompanied by Bob Delgado, who had already received the legend treatment earlier in the season, so Ian & Bob were ushered straight up to the Legends Lounge.

One of the funniest moments was seeing Jane Hipkiss go weak at the knees, she won't thank me for this, but she had a proper crush on Ian Edwards when he played here previously, and she was like a kid in a sweet shop when Ian walked in!

Pre match I called into the club shop, and Michael Wilde was being shown the new Wilde Thing t-shirt, and I said to him at that point that I was expecting a hat trick from him today, and not to let us down - all in jest of course!

So, to the game then, and what a corker for us hey?

Wildey go and get a hat trick please?

We had hoped that we would be back on form at the Exacta, and it wasn't long before Wildey notched the first goal, before on the half hour mark he'd make it two - just - from the penalty spot.

Then a further goal from new signing Chris Simm - great to see him get on the scoresheet on his debut, and everyone went in at half time very happy.

So down to the tunnel with Ian Edwards then for the Seals Lottery draw for January, yes we were finally up to date with the draws - the only problem was whilst standing at the side by the tunnel, Julie was getting ready with the tickets in the bucket, only for a ball to come flying over hit by the Chester subs warming up, and yes, it hit the bucket, all the tickets ended up going everywhere and we had a job on our hands to get them all in the bucket again!

So, Ian was introduced to the crowd, with Jane Hipkiss safely tucked away - and it was great to see yet another legend getting a great reception by the Chester faithful.

On to the second half then, and I had to quickly nip back into the office, and as has so often happened this season I heard a roar, and the realisation sunk in that I'd not just missed another goal, but I'd missed Wildey's hat trick goal - so I'd have to wait until the highlights were out before I'd see it again - but at least Chester's number ten had delivered on my request for a hat trick from him!

Iain Howard then staked his own claim for man of the match by grabbing two goals, and to be fair if Wildey hadn't of got the hat trick, I think Iain would have secured the award after a great performance.



Forget Gullit, it's Total Football at Chester!

 That sixth goal was just something else though, and I maintain my view that if that goal had been scored in the Premier League or in an international game, then we'd be seeing countless re-runs of it, as it was just "total football" from the first pass to the moment Iain Howard lashed it into the corner of the net - what a great goal. I celebrated that much that I lost my footing and nearly ended up making a right tool of myself and flying down the steps by the Directors door, but just managed to hold on to my dignity!

6-0 then, and a great day for the Blues with no soft goal conceded today too which was great, and I'm sure Richie Whiteside shared that view - then once the man of the match award had been sorted , time to sink a pint and reflect on what a great feeling it was to be 8 points clear at the top.

So, another great weekend for the Blues then, and with our rivals games all being called off - what a great move investing in pitch covers has been - time to enjoy the gap we're opening up, with the old adage of points in the bag being better than games in hand.

One final thing for Saturday, was a quick text to Colin Murray to update him on our latest result, and he replied with "Magic, saw the result earlier" and there is some good news with Colin which I'll go into once the news is released very soon.

That's it for now, roll on Saturday - when hopefully we'll pick up more points at Garforth!

A great day for Chester FC & CFU

Yesterday was a good day for Chester fans, as City Fans United, the group responsible for bringing Chester FC back to life were recognised as the Team of the Year in the Your Champions 2010 Awards run jointly by Scottish Power and the Trinity Mirror Cheshire group.

For everyone concerned with City Fans United, this is a well deserved accolade, as 2700 people have each done their own bit to help Chester FC become what it is today - a club that can be proud of itself, and one that is going places.

The news filtered through yesterday morning, and was greeted with joy, and tonight along with fellow CFU and Chester FC board members Mark Howell & Jim Green, I'll be collecting the award on behalf of the membership - we'll have to go for an FA Cup lifting style with the award being passed down the line before being raised aloft ha ha!

It is a great way to celebrate the achievements by all as we move into the second year of City Fans United's existence, and what a first year it has been, with the collapse of the old club, several challenges to face in bringing Chester FC to life, the celebrations surrounding the award of the lease (what were those Danes thinking???), and of course the run outs at Colwyn Bay, Warrington, and the home games against Aberystwyth and Trafford - great occasions.

Also yesterday, in blustery conditions, Chester FC helped switch on the Christmas lights in Chester, and great to see the players attending the event, which again is all part of the "getting out there" in the community - just glad they didn't go up the Chronicle Wheel, as they might not have got down considering that wind last night, in fact I thought it was quite amusing on the Chron (what a great paper they have been for CFU & CFC by the way) website they had a story saying "the ride would not face problems with high winds" and then hours later the wheel was out of bounds due to the "high winds" - make your mind up!

As I said, the Chron have been super supportive of our efforts, which is more than can be said for the Chester Leader which continues to spout rubbish from the mouth of one former owner without any criticism of what he did to the football club, and the image of Chester.

"Shower of Fools" - where was the questioning on that comment? Answer: Nowhere to be seen. That was a great opportunity to fight back verballly against the murderer of Chester City FC. In fact the whole interview was once again full of contradictions, yet nothing challenged by the Leader.

It's time for them to grow some and really go to town on just what damage that family inflicted on the club it has reported on for years. All we're asking for is some support from the paper, that is of course part of the North Wales Newspaper group - so there's the challenge Chester Leader, get behind us and our great plans for the future rather than just reporting the obvious.

On to today then, and another busy one, and an interesting one for me, as I'm doing a presentation at a business meeting being held at Chester FC today, and was beavering away on powerpoint yesterday to prepare for it. That all takes place this afternoon, and great to see local businesses making use of the Exacta Stadium for meetings, it all bodes well for the future.

Now I'm no public speaker, and despite doing countless interviews during the last year, I still get nervous doing them, but once I start talking football, and in particluar Chester FC, it's hard to stop me!

Following the presentation, it's back to work, but then just a few hours later, time to pick up that Your Champions award, so looking forward to today's calendar of events!

That'll do for now then, and hopefully three more points for the Blues tomorrow at Ossett - to those reading this, have a great weekend!