Telford 1 Chester 3 - Report
Boxing Day is often a day when the excesses of the previous day weigh heavily, and although there’s no suggestion that AFC Telford had been too indulgent, they couldn’t shake off the slump in which they find themselves.
They ran into a Chester side eager to impress their new manager Steve Watson, appointed two days before Christmas, and ultimately handed their visitors too many additional gifts to expect to get anything from the game.
Paul Carden’s side weren’t short on effort. But as has often been the case, the requisite amount of quality was lacking. Carden had one surprise gift for Bucks fans – a new signing, Mace Goodridge, who joined on non-contract terms from Chorley and made an immediate start in midfield as Carden rang the changes after the dismal 1-0 defeat at home to Guiseley last week.
Both teams wore their away kits, in support of the charity Shelter’s ‘No Home Kit’ initiative, and home comforts were in short supply. In front of a season’s best crowd of 2,082, the sides appeared motivated by the lively atmosphere. The early play was conducted at pace, albeit neither team exhibited enough control to seize the initiative.
The Bucks blocked efforts from Darren Stephenson and Seals skipper George Glendon, while at the opposite end Kai Williams, playing off the shoulder of strike partner Ewan Bange, looked eager, running in behind the Chester defence.
However, it was a ghost of Christmas past who opened the scoring for the visitors after 13 minutes. James Hardy was a notable arrival at the New Bucks Head under Gavin Cowan in 2020. But a couple of memorable goals aside, Hardy proved less hardy than his name, too often flitting in and out of matches, and the same could be said of his performance in this match.
Hardy, however, was in the right place at the right time when the Bucks allowed Darren Stephenson room in behind the right of their defence to cross into the middle. Glendon met the delivery and saw an effort blocked, but it ran into Hardy’s path and although it wasn’t a clean strike his close-range effort beat Ted Cann.
A goal adrift again, how Carden must wish that his side could establish an advantage; once again playing catch-up, they did respond, although Williams’ tumble in the penalty area under pressure from Josh Askew would have been a soft penalty if awarded.
It wasn’t, and for all their industry there was an aching lack of composure and control, those luxuries being in short supply when you’re down on your luck.
On the stroke of half-time, it was Weeks’ partner Glendon was left feeling groggier than if he’d been at the sherry, when he inadvertently blocked Adam Walker’s stinging shot from 20 yards. Keeper Louis Grey punched clear from Bange’s head after an Arlen Birch cross, Walker struck a goal-bound volley to perfection, but its trajectory was broken when it struck Glendon flush in the face, poleaxing the Seals captain and denying his opposite number.
Such is the Bucks’ luck at the moment that even the restart was awarded as a free-kick to the Seals and not a drop-ball, and the away side went in a goal ahead at half-time.
Bucks started the second half in positive fashion. Goodridge’s lack of competitive football was evident, and he picked up a booking on his debut. The Seals’ Kevin Roberts cleared Cann’s crossbar with a shot, but then, from seemingly nowhere, chances started to come for the Bucks.
Brad Bood’s overlap and cross from the left induced some defensive panic as Carl Baker and then Walker had shots blocked inside the area.
The crowd’s belief grew too, and Baker, so classy and seemingly with time to spare whenever in possession, twisted and turned a defender back and forth, then back and forth once more, before firing in a near-post shot that Louis Grey beat away for a corner.
Their momentum was gathering, but a clash of heads between Zak Lilly and Chester’s Matty Williams as they contested the corner led to a lengthy stoppage. Williams departed, replaced by Danny Livesey, and though they tried the Bucks couldn’t regain their impetus.
The danger in overcommitting to attack was evident when Hardy fluffed his finish from eight yards after being found by Stephenson, clasping his hands to his head in anguish at the miss. He didn’t have to worry for long, as the Seals were soon to make the game safe.
On 72 minutes, the Bucks repelled the away side but only partially, and as the ball was hooked back into the penalty area, Birch found himself on the wrong side and resorted to grappling Stephenson to prevent the chance, but conceded a penalty. Anthony Dudley coolly stroked the spot-kick down the middle as Cann dived left, and the game was almost up.
The Seals put a seal on it seven minutes later when Stephenson, who had been troublesome on the left-hand side, cut along the edge of the penalty area before unloading a real rocket, the ball flashing across Cann at hip-height and into the far corner from the edge of the penalty area.
That was the signal for a few home fans to leave, and those that left did miss the Bucks’ consolation goal from Baker in injury time.
Baker, who sometimes appears to be playing a different game to his team-mates, marked his 39th birthday with an exquisite finish when he curled the ball into Grey’s top-left corner, the keeper rooted by Baker’s artistry.
Williams and Jason Oswell, almost added an unlikely second goal in the dying seconds, but they’d have merely been picking the meat off the bones of a Christmas turkey long since devoured by the visitors.
It wasn’t a stuffing, but Carden has surely taken stock, and now has to produce something with the leftovers that can keep the Bucks fans believing his side have the hunger for what lies ahead.
