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Chester City v Doncaster Rovers,Saturday 13th January 2001

FA Trophy Round 3

CHESTER CITY 2 V 0 DONCASTER ROVERS att:1,479

Whitehall (29),(35)

City bounce back from defeat at Blackburn to cruise through to the Fourth Round of the FA Trophy

City kept up their impressive record in cup competitions this season with what was in the end a straightforward victory at the Deva on Saturday. The game certainly wasn't memorable and the football played especially in the second half left a lot be desired but the blues always looked the better side as Doncaster struggled to produce a performance like the ones seen in the league recently which have seen them rise to 6th in the Conference and also saw them easily beat the blues 1-0 only a month ago at Belle Vue.

Chester started the game missing two players from the team that played at Ewood Park. Matt Doughty pulled out of the game injured whilst Neil Fisher was suspended. Scott Ruscoe and Darren Moss slotted into the side in place of the two. Chester started lively and pushed forward looking for an early goal, Scott Ruscoe saw his shot from the edge of the box fly over the bar whilst Mark Beesley twice fired balls across the box which nobody could get on the end of. City had a good effort on 27 minutes, Andy Porter chipped the ball into the area where Carl Ruffer chested the ball down and hit a powerful shot which was brilliantly saved by Doncaster keeper Barry Richardson. One minute a hero next minute Richardson was the villain, Andy Porter's through ball ran to Richardson who had the simple task of kicking it up field but he totally missed the ball and Steve Whitehall was on hand to walk the ball into the net for what must have been one of the easiest goals he's ever scored. Five minutes later and the blues where two up and cruising. Andy Porter won the ball on the edge of the box and played it through to Mark Beesley, his cross found the un-marked Whitehall who's header nestled in the corner of the net. Doncaster then went on the offensive and created their only chance of the half, the ever dangerous Tristan Whitman found himself with the ball at his feet on the edge of the box and his shot whistled just over the bar. That was the end of the action for the first half and the blues went in 2-0 up.

The second half proved to be very poor as both sides struggled to create anything. City's best moment of the second half came when Mark Beesley crossed into the box where Steve Whitehall spectaculary volleyed the ball just wide of the mark. The second half saw numerous bookings, bad tackles and several punch up's as both sides lost their discipline. Doncaster forward Neil Campbell went for a dive worthy of an Olympic medal when he found himself clean through on goal only to find himself placed in the referee's book whilst a disgraceful tackle by Doncaster player Shaw on Paul Carden went un-punished by the referee as he played advantage and by the time the ball finally went out of play the referee appeared to have lost interest in the tackle that had gone before. 5 minutes later and the game exploded into a 21 man punch up, the referee missed a tackle from behind on Paul Carden and he took the law into his own hands and put a two footed tackle in on a Doncaster player which saw a punch up ensue and three men get booked. Doncaster player McIntyre who scored the winner for Doncaster against City at Belle Vue found himself lucky to still be on the pitch after he punched Mark Beesley and the violence spilled over into the tunnel after the game where Andy Porter found himself in a scuffle but forgetting all the violence the game ended with a 2-0 Chester victory and a lot of City fans where left walking down Bumpers Lane considering a trip to Villa Park in May.

The game left City fans coming away with the same old question as they have done all season coming away from cup games, if only City could grind out wins in the league like they have done in the cup games instead of being happy to settle for draws wouldn't they be up there battling with the likes of Yeovil and Rushden rather than languishing 12th in the Conference?

Man Of The Match : Martyn Lancaster - I have to admit I am not Lancaster's biggest fan but I thought he had a good game on Saturday always looking calm,assured and confident.

Chester:Brown,Moss,Ruscoe,Lancaster,Ruffer,P.Beesley,Carden,Porter,M.Beesley,Whitehall,Blackburn Subs:Wright,Berry,Woods,Woodyatt

Doncaster:Richardson,Marples,Shaw,Hawkins,Stone,Patterson,Penney,Campbell,Whitman,McIntyre Subs:Caudwell,Carrington,Aldford,Price,Watson