Upon arrival at the pitch it was covered in a gentle dew with distant mist on the field around, giving an air of quiet and calm. The tranquillity was quickly broken the moment the whistle was blown at the start of this feisty challenge. The visitors are known to have several very experienced and strong players and they brought them all with them.

The game was end to end and physical. Macclesfield put a lot of pressure on the Chester defence and drew first blood with an unlucky deflection off the Chester keeper’s pads. On any other day, the ball would have deflected away from the goal. Not this day. The game continued in a similar vein. Chester dug in and continued to fight and soon put a goal away to draw even. Then Scored again.

At half time, there was a disturbance on the side-line when a regular and enthusiastic supporter of the Chester ladies 2's was sent to the stands. At the request of the visitors, the supporter, who is also a playing member of Chester Hockey Club, was asked to be removed from alongside the pitch. The claim was on health and safety grounds but the supporter was not happy. When asked to comment upon his removal, Olly Boothroyd aged 4 yrs and 8 mths, kept his own counsel and would merely state 'The Red team are naughty!

The game resumed.

The teams on this day were seemingly well-matched and so the pattern and velocity of the game continued into the second half, as it had in the first. The visitors scoring again and then so did Chester. Then the visitors scored again. Although Chester seemed to lack the alacrity that had been bountiful in the previous few weeks, they proceeded to played with grit and determination which truly came to fruition when they managed to find the back of the net one more time before the final whistle, to grind out a 4-3 win. A hard win, but a win's a win. Another 3 points. Boom!

Match details

Match date

Sat 02 Dec 2017

Kickoff

16:30

Team overview