Chester City 0-4 Barrow

This FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round replay was a chance to catch some early Cup action, and pay a visit to a local club in dire straits.

Without getting bogged down in too much detail, Chester City FC have just a few weeks to pay their football creditors before the Football Conference (Blue Square Premier) decide on their future in the league. In other words, the club could have just weeks to live.

A home Cup replay against divisional rivals Barrow, with the prospect of another home tie in the 1st Round proper against lower non-league opposition in less than a fortnight, seemed a great opportunity for them to bank the money to keep the club going.

Unfortunately, but perhaps understandable to an extent, the Chester turn-out was poor, the tiny Deva Stadium (a cheap, predominantly breezeblock construction on an out of town trading estate) was filled with less than 1,000 home fans.

The most populated part of the ground was where the Barrow fans were housed and, to their credit, where most of the atmosphere and noise were created.

The experienced Jimmy Harvey is the latest man to take on the Chester job of overcoming their 25-points deduction in the league and give them a fighting chance of staying in the BSP.

The visitors, Barrow, had made an inconsistent start to their second season back in non-league’s top-flight. However with some canny loan signings from managerial due Dave Bayliss & Darren Sheridan recently, the Bluebirds had put together an unbeaten run with an impressive string of results.

It was Barrow who started the game the brighter. Attacking City from the off they laid siege to Chester’s goal in the opening stages and kept most of the possession for the first half hour. They just couldn’t fashion an obvious chance though, before Chester grew into the game at the end of the half and tested Barrow goalkeeper Stuart Tomlinson.

The second-half began with some good end-to-end football worthy of a Cup tie both teams had a great chance of winning. As it panned out Barrow had the greater belief and determination.

With just under 20 minutes to go the referee finally awarded Barrow a free-kick in the Chester penalty area for the third clear back-pass picked up by their goalkeeper John Danby.

Despite a wall of Chester players covering the near post to the free-kick, Barrow midfielder Andy Bond impossibly squeezed the ball through to break the deadlock and put the Cumbrian side 1-0 up.

Everything then fell apart for Chester. Two minutes later the trickery and pace of Malvin Kamara saw him tripped in the box by Kevin Roberts and a penalty awarded to Barrow. Jason Walker stepped up to send Danby the wrong way and put Barrow 2-0 up.

Two minutes later again Kamara wreaked havoc wide on the right and crossed for Bond to send a looped header into the back of the net and make it 3-0.

Barrow were in full control while confidence-shattered Chester chased shadows. One of the three late substitutions made by the away side late on made it 4-0. Teenage striker Andy Cook, on loan from Carlisle United, raced clear of the Chester defence and kept a cool head to side-foot the ball past Danby when in on goal.

A demoralising drubbing which does little for Chester or a clearly fuming Jim Harvey, but which didn’t flatter Barrow too much. The Bluebirds march on to face a home tie with Eastleigh in the FA Cup 1st Round.

Man of the Match: Darren Sheridan. At 5 foot 6 ins and 41 years-old, Barrow’s co-manager ran the game. Winning nearly every header and every tackle in midfield he put to shame players 20 years his junior in the Chester midfield. On a night when his team didn’t put a foot wrong he stood put, particularly late on when exhausted, he won the ball and sent Cook away for the 4th goal. With Dave Bayliss directing things on the touchline, and Sheridan directing play on the pitch, Barrow had the edge most of the night and deserved to progress.

Update

The blog has been quiet of late as I have taken up the position of Media Officer at ambitious Cymru Alliance club Buckley Town. It's an exciting time to join the club as they push for a Domestic Licence to eventually gain promotion to the Welsh Premier. This means that I will be at as many of their games as possible with match reports on their excellent website at http://www.buckleytownfc.com/.

I still intend to visit other clubs in the area when time allows and will continue to write features and comment.

I have also made a contribution to issue 137 of Welsh Football Magazine, an independent publication which should be available in early November - see www.welsh-football.net/

Tranmere Rovers sack John Barnes

The most inevitable managerial sacking of the season will be a cause of glee for the 'I told you so' merchants who enjoy pointing out the obvious. The departure of John Barnes and Jason McAteer from Tranmere Rovers is not cause for a full bore celebration though, even by Rovers fans who wanted them gone at least 6 weeks ago - only around 6 weeks into their brief reign.

It heaps further embarrassment on an otherwise well-run club up to recent months, following the appearance of the club for sale on ebay and the bizarre sacking of one of the Football League's most-respected managers - Ronnie Moore. The two huge errors of judgement have done little to improve owner Peter Johnson's credibility.

The club lie in the lower reaches of 'League 1' with a threadbare squad and few funds to strengthen or change. With Barnes & McAteer no doubt receiving a severance package their successor is going to have to work with what’s already there. It really could be touch or go whether Rovers stay up this season.

There are little shoots for optimism though. Rovers have a number of promising youngsters to work with, the likes of Aaron Cresswell, Ash Taylor, Charlie Barnett and Ryan Fraughan. The experience and goals of Ian Thomas-Moore, and leadership qualities of Ian Goodison will also give the new man something to build on.

Though John Barnes’ reputation will not be tarnished in the eyes of Liverpool fans, two fairly high-profile managerial stints lasting less than a year in Britain, make him damaged goods to prospective employers. Unless he’s willing to drop a long-way down the non-league pyramid and start again he’s unlikely to get a chance elsewhere.

With just 3 league and cup wins all season and poor performances to match that underwhelming statistic, its hard to argue his case for staying much longer, however much the football purists hoped it would turn around to spite the doubters.

Barnes is an idealist who wanted to see his teams play football in the right way, and there are too few of those in the lower leagues at present. It’s a shame as for lack of an experienced assistant and a bit of money to spend things may have worked out differently at Prenton Park.