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Chester City v Woking,Saturday 2nd December 2000
Nationwide Conference League
CHESTER CITY 3 V 3 Woking att:1,694
Fisher(7),Whitehall(35),Porter(65pen) Randall(23),Steele(32,41pen)
Blues fight back to get a point but it isn`t good enough to keep up with the leading pack
When are we ever going to win in the league again I ask myself?Scoring three goals at home you would have thought to be suffcient for three points but it proved not to be as the City defence(namely Martyn Lancaster) gifted Woking three goals as the blues picked up yet another frustrating draw.
The visitors should have been in the lead on five minutes as the ever controversial referee disallowed a Woking header that one,had crossed the line and two,was cleared from behind the line by Steve Whitehall who made use of his hands to help do so.The blues went straight on the counter attack as the Woking players protested to the referee,Matt Doughty swung a cross in from the left which was met by Neil Fisher at the far post who had plenty of time to drill the ball into the far corner and put the blues one up.Following Woking`s callapse at Carlisle following going down one nil to an early goal most City fans now expected a rought,but it wasn`t to be.Woking pushed forward in numbers and where awarded for their efforts on 23 minutes when the ever irritating Martin Randall nutmegged Martyn Lancaster who had an extremly poor game at the back and found himself through on goal and finished neatly past the helpless Brown.Woking weren`t prepared to sit back and play for a draw now though,they kept pushing forward and took the lead on 32 minutes when Martyn Lancaster found himself on the wrong side of Woking top scorer Scott Steele.The ball was played through for Steele to run onto and he finished in style as he executed a perfect chip over the advancing Wayne Brown.City fans where shell shocked but the team soon ended the rants from the stand as Steve Whitehall superbly hit a curling shot into the Woking goal from just inside the area.The blues weren`t on level terms for long though as Woking were awarded a controversial penalty on 41 minutes.Wayne Brown clearly got both hands on the ball after Martin Randall had been put through but the referee gave a penalty to the dismay of the blues following.Following the game even their players stated that it wasn`t a penalty but it did equal out the decision by the referee at the beginning of the half when he dissalowed Woking`s clear goal.At half time the score was 3-2 in Woking`s favour.
Woking came out in the second half and frustrated City.The blues gave sustained pressure to the Woking defence and it appeared as if it was going to be one of those days until on 65 minutes the referee awarded a definate penalty when Darren Wright was brought down by the Woking keeper.Andy Porter stepped up to cooly to send the keeper the wrong way and bring the blues back on level terms.Both sides then pushed forward in search of a winner.Steve Whitehall and Scott Ruscoe who in my opinion deserves now to be starting for City went close before Martin Randall went close to causing an upset near to the end when his rasping shot came off the far post to the relief of the City fans.
At the end of a very entertaining game a draw was a fair result but the blues again dropped another two points against a side like so many others this season that should have been beaten.
Man Of The Match:Neil Fisher gets my man of the match as he had his best game of the season and always looked lively.
Chester:Brown,Fisher,Doughty,Lancaster,Ruffer,Woods,Carden,Blackburn,M.Beesley,Whitehall,Porter Subs:Ruscoe,Moss,Gaunt,Wright,Woodyatt
Woking:Matassa,Smith,Hollingdale,Perkins,Wye,Roddis,Steele,West,Kadi,Randall,Griffin Subs:Drewett,Teague,Baverstock,Ruggles,Alighieri
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