Chester 1  Wayne Brown 2  Steve Harkness 3  Kevin McIntyre 5  Phil Bolland 7  Chris Blackburn 8  Jimmy Kelly 9  Michael Twiss 11  Steve Brodie 15  Ryan Sugden 17  Carl Ruffer 25  Scott Guyett Substitutes 12  Micky Brown 14  Paul Carden 16  Martyn Lancaster 19  Dave Cameron 20  Ben Davies

Goals Sugden Terry Kelly (pen) Bruce Bolland   Guyett   Sugden   Stats 14 Goal Attempts 9 9 On Target 6 5 Off Target 3 0 Hit Woodwork 0 3 Corners 3 Cards Yellow Twiss Roberts   West   Matthews   Perkins Red Brown, W Vickers

Dag & Red Tony Roberts  1 Ashley Vickers  3 Steve Heffer  6 Mark Janney  7 Paul Terry  8 Mark Stein  10 Paul Bruce  11 Junior  13 Steve West  15 Lee Matthews  17 Mark Rooney  20 Substitutes Tim Cole  2 Mark Smith  5 Danny Shipp  9 Steve Perkins  12 Paul Gothard  18

Five goals certainly flattered the hosts as the Daggers continued their poor away record, which has seen them concede ten goals in just two games. However, the home side took their chances well even if they were borne out of poor defending. The Daggers changed the side around as they continued with a 3-5-2, but brought Rooney into the midfield for Hill, and replaced Potts with West.

After arriving late due to traffic, it was already 1-1. Paul Terry had scored after just 30 seconds. Mark Janney went down the right and pulled it back. Junior stepped over it and it ran to Terry who lashed it into the bottom corner from outside of the box. However, bad defending gifted Chester a goal soon after. A long punt seemed to be easy to deal with, but when Matthews left his header short of Roberts, Sugden stole in to lob the Daggers' keeper and make it 1-1. Roberts then had to be on his toes to deny two other shots, one he saved with his feet and he then parried another Sugden attempt.

Just as the coach arrived, the first thing we saw was another Chester goal. Again, awful defending saw the ball over the top beat everyone and Sugden tried to round Roberts who had him over. He has booked as defenders had got back to cover the goal. Kelly dispatched the penalty very well after a long wait for treatment to an injured Dagger.

The Daggers were playing some nice football though and passed it around well. They carved out a chance when Junior skinned the full-back and pulled it back to Stein whose shot looked destined for the goal until Guyett threw himself at the ball to block the shot. The last blood of the half went to the Daggers as the first had done. A free-kick was awarded on the edge of the box, and Paul Bruce carefully crafted a free-kick into the top corner over the wall.

After half-time Roberts had to be on his toes to tip Kelly's thumping shot onto the post as Chester came out with all guns blazing. The Daggers also tried to push forward and were doing well against a defence that has a big reputation. However, Chester tried to hit the Daggers on the break and this led to Vickers seeing red. Blackburn broke and Vickers tried to make the tackle. He was late and saw a red card which could have been a yellow but it was a poor tackle with a shot on goal likely.

Then Chester took the lead. Twiss was pulled back but the ref waved play on. Then Matthews tackled on the edge of the box after play had advanced an seemingly won the ball. However, the free-kick was given and although the first incident was seemingly the foul, Matthews was booked. From this free-kick, the marking was horrible and Bolland had no problems in heading into the net. Poor defending yet again. Roberts then kicked straight to Sugden but saved when one-on-one. And then when Wayne Brown was sent off for handling outside his box, you got the feeling it was going to be the Daggers' day. Paul Bruce fired the free-kick against the head of a defender, and with midfielder Blackburn in goal, the shots were sure to rain in weren't they?

Well actually, no. In a moment of madness, Heffer and Terry were sacrificed for Shipp and Perkins. The Daggers immediately lost all shape and bite, allowing Chester to walk through the midfield at will. This meant that they were completely unable to even shoot, the only effort spilt by Blackburn with nobody to fire home, and he then dropped a cross and again was let off the hook.

Then Chester added number four, and guess what, it was poor defending again. The other centre back, Guyett, went where Bolland had previously, and headed home a cross from the left which went right into the bottom corner. Then a scuffle broke out as Cole went through Kelly. Home manager Mark Wright jumped to his feet and seemingly wanted to pick a fight with Cole. Members of both teams and both dugouts got involved, but somehow only Gothard, who had ran from the bench, was sent to the changing rooms.

And with the Daggers pushing forward, Steve Perkins gave the ball away for the umteenth time since he entered the fray, and McIntyre crossed to Sugden who was unmarked to slam the ball past Roberts. The scoreline perhaps flattered the home side, and the Daggers had pushed hard for more than an hour. You can't help thinking that had Heffer and Terry stayed on, the Daggers would be a point better off, but as soon as they were sacrificed, the Daggers fell apart and conceded two goals that made the scoreline look a little embarassing.