V 
Chester City v Stevenage Borough,Saturday November 11th,2000
Nationwide Conference League
CHESTER CITY 1 V 1 STEVENAGE BOROUGH att:1,708
M.Beesley(46) Armstrong(72)
City miss a hatfull and are forced to pay as Stevenage rock the blues with an equaliser which takes it to four 1-1 draws in a row in the league
I could really rip into the blues in this match report but I`d be hear all night writing about it so I won`t to much.There where just too many things wrong with this performance for me including abysmal shooting,lack of ambition and little change of tactics or personnel to turn things around during the match which in the end led to yet another draw when wins are only good enough now.
The blues actually started off quite brightly in the opening 10 minutes,they played some neat football on the deck for once and carved a chance out early on when Darren Wright put Mark Beesley through,he pulled the trigger only to find the ball trickle agonisingly the wrong side of the post and out of play.Stevenage weren`t really in the game at this point but the blues suddenly just started to become sloppy with their play,passes weren`t going to blue and white shirts and even when City did have chances to get crosses in either the crosses where poor or players just weren`t getting into the box in support.Even in saying this though City had most of the possesion and Stevenage never really created a chance in the half.On 22 minutes a cross did find cause trouble in the box.Fisher crossed from the right it found Matt Doughty at the far post,all he had to do was volley it home into the open net from 6 yards but instead he chose to try a side footed volley which ended up going a fair distance wide of the gaping goal to the astonishment of the crowd.Darren Wright was a guilty of missing a couple of chances before he missed an absolute sitter.Matt Doughty did one of his usual Giggsy style runs into the box pulled it back to Wright in the centre of the goal unmarked from 6 yards out all he had to do was put his head over the ball and hit it instead he lent back and side footed it high over the bar.City didn`t really create anything else in the half and at half time the sides went in nil nil.
The second half City went straight on the attack from the kick-off.The ball was pumped upfield towards the edge of the Stevenage penalty box,the keeper came out for what seemed to be an easy collection of the ball from the edge of his box only to,whilst claiming it jump straight into one of his own defenders.The ball dropped out of his hands straight into the path of Mark Beesley on the edge of the box who calmly hit it into the open net on the half volley.From then on in City just sat back and let Stevenage come at them,Stevenage had a couple of half chances and made various substitutions and tactical changes something City didn`t do until it was to late before on 72 minutes a ball into the box had Matty Woods caught not marking his man who had drifted off him the ball fell to the unmarked Armstong in the centre of the goal who had the easy task of slotting it past the helpless Brown in the City goal to send the Stevenage fans wild.City then woke up again Wright again missed a chance when he was put through on the right hand side only to see his shot go wide of the post when all he had to do was square it to the unmarked Beesley.He did try to do this in an almost replica next attack.This time he looked to square it to Beesley who was just about to slot it into the open goal when it was taken off his toe by a Stevenage defender.Stevenage could and should have had a penalty with five minutes to go when Paul Beesley bundled substitute Leadbetter over but the referee played on.City forced a couple of corners in the dying seconds but they produced nothing in the shape of an effort on goal and it finished yet again one all.
It was yet again a poor performance from a City side who seem to think all they have to do is turn up to win and now languish far adrift of the coverted top spot.I also feel that Steve Whitehall would have had a field day today if he had been fit as I couldn`t see him missing all the straight forward chances Wright and Beesley did.
Man Of The Match:There wasn`t really one today but if I had to pick one I thought Paul Beesley played well at times today he played some good crossfield balls in the first half and looked solid at the back.
Chester:Brown,Doughty,Ruffer,Woods,Fisher,P.Beesley,Carden,Porter,Blackburn,Wright,M.Beesley subs:Ruscoe,Woodyatt,Moss,Lancaster,Kerr
Stevenage Borough:Wilkerson,Kirby,Trott,Smith,Bunce,Metcalfe,Martin,McMahon,Armstrong,Clarke,Hay Subs:Taylor,Wraight,Illman,Leadbetter,Miller
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