By Chris Thompson
November 13 2005

CHESTER played out an enjoyable stalemate with Northampton at The Saunders Honda Stadium. CHESTER CITY 0 -0 NORTHAMPTON TOWN (att. 3,259)
Saturday 12th November 2005, 15:00. LEAGUE 2
Saunders Honda Stadium

	0-0
1. Chris MacKenzie		1. Lee Harper
3. Carl Regan		2. Jason Crowe
6. Luke Dimech		5. Luke Chambers
7. Stuart Drummond		6. Chris Doig
8. Michael Branch, Captain		7. Ian Taylor, Captain
10. Ryan Lowe		9. Scott McGleish
11. Tom Curtis		10. Josh Low
14. Ben Davies		11. Eoin Jess ...(60)
15. Dave Artell		19. Martin Smith
22. Scott McNiven		20. Pedj Bocic
23. Marcus Richardson ...(78)		29. Junior Mendes ...(60)
	Subsitutes
2. Stephen Vaughan		8. Andy Kirk ...(60)
5. Phil Bolland		12. David Hunt ...(60)
17. Craig Dove		14. Dave Rowson
21. Abdelhalim El Kholti ...(78)		21. David Galbraith
30. Justin Walker		31. Michael Poke
KEY
Sponsors Man of the Match
Alternative Man of the Match
Yellow card
Red card

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breakdown

Chester played out an enjoyable stalemate with Northampton at The Saunders Honda Stadium.

It was a tale of two good sides, who throughout the match proved their play-off credentials, with some good individuals and some neat play.

But the 90 minutes of play, for the majority, lacked much in goalmouth action. Had one team scored the winner in a tight encounter, it would have been harsh.

The team who looked most like accomplishing that feat was Chester, with Ryan Lowe a big threat to the Northampton defence throughout - and he even came back to defend when called upon.

chester city lined up

Chester lined up as ever, with Chris MacKenzie marshalling the goal line, with a defence reading from left to right: Scott McNiven, Dave Artell, Luke Dimech, Carl Regan; all retaining their places.

Stewart Drummond centred the midfield alongside Tom Curtis, while Ben Davies ran the left side. Ryan Lowe, Michael Branch and the inspirational Marcus Richardson alternated the spare right midfield space between their attacking duties

Amongst the substitutes sat Phil Bolland, Abdul El Kholti and Stephen Vaughan. The two single changes to the weekend win at Folkestone Invicta in the FA Cup saw midfield duo Craig Dove and Justin Walker on the team-sheet.

Former Kilmarnock defender Shaun Hessey and young reserve ‘keeper Ryan Brookfield were the unlucky two to be dropped, as Keith Curle gambled on naming a solitary goalkeeper in his 16-man-squad.

match report from bbc sport

Ryan Lowe failed to make it five goals in as many games as Chester had to settle for a goalless draw.

Lowe fired wide twice in the first half and then saw Luke Chambers get in the way of a 25-yard drive.

Martin Smith almost gave the Cobblers the lead against the run of play, his effort from inside the area bringing a sharp save out of Chris MacKenzie.

Northampton bossed the second half but failed to test MacKenzie who dealt easily with a Scott McGleish volley.

For a full match report from the official website, hop across to chestercityfc.net

from chestercity.tk

The “Man of the Match” award was awarded to fullback Carl Regan, who had played as good as anybody on the day. However, the cautious applause simply spelt the blindness of the sponsor’s decision in Big Capital Letters!

Ben Davies was superb in the second-half, hauling his body everywhere in an industrial and commendable, superb performance. Although his set-pieces were not quite at their usual best, he was easily Chester’s star man, and the engine behind the team’s dominant spells.

However, the 1st half was all Marcus Richardson’s, who deservedly won a great ovation as he was replaced following a quiet start to the second period of 45.

He put together a string of crisp passing to open up the Northampton defence, and won the majority of balls that came his way; turning his marker frequently, and putting passion into his game that earned him his best league performance this season.

He answered his critics wonderfully, and explained through his performance why Keith Curle has kept faith in his gangly target-man all season.

It was 0-0 in the end, but I was impressed by Northampton, who kept it very tight and closed Chester down all over the pitch. They never particularly dominated, but in Josh Low, have a good, strong player, whilst up front have pace with Junior Mendes.

The return of striker Andy Kirk from injury, who appeared as a 59th minute swap for Mendes, failed to make an impact today, but his prolific striking ability spells danger for future League 2 defences.

Their away support was terrific given the distance; it terrified me to see 4 coaches roll up at 5-to-3, whose passengers quickly filed in amongst the 300 or so who were already waiting!

Chester’s visitors probably cancelled them out in the end to make it free flowing, but City can take heart, that against a good side, once again they dominated long periods, and were unlucky not to snatch it at the depth.

City are getting better and better since their cup defeat to Cambridge United, and it is only a while now before Chester bag another handful, given the return of Gregg Blundell next week from a thigh injury.

The Blues are getting closer and closer to their best...?

I hope so, and I hope it's soon! Goodnight from chestercity.tk

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chestercity.tk