Chester snatch controversial winner in five goal thriller

Ten man FC United went down 3-2 to a controversial last minute winner against Chester at Gigg Lane on Saturday afternoon in front of 3,112 supporters.

A brace from Carlos Roca had put the Reds 2-1 up at half-time but centre-back Adam Jones was sent off for his second bookable offence after the break and Chester hit back to take all three points.

United will be disappointed not to take anything out of the game, especially because the Seals’ last gasp winner appeared to involve a push in the penalty area. Although, in fairness, the visitors did see a hatful of chances go begging throughout the afternoon.

Kick-off was delayed by quarter of an hour because of traffic accidents on the M60 and Manchester Road. And it looked like United were starting another couple of minutes later on top of that as the visitors took the lead with less than two minutes on the board. Striker Christopher Simm rose well inside the six yard box to head the visitors in front.

The early goal set up the contest to become a fantastic game of football with everything in the mix. United looked the better of the two teams for the next ten to 15 minutes and tested the visiting ‘keeper John Danby a couple of times with the best effort being a Roca free-kick which was just tipped around the post by Danby.

But the visitors should have doubled their lead as Simm; who was dangerous all afternoon, nodded the ball towards James Spencer’s back post where captain George Horan managed to head the ball over the crossbar from little more than a yard out.

Probably feeling they’d had a lucky escape, United soon found the equaliser after some physical defending from the Chester defence saw United awarded a penalty. Roca tucked the spot-kick away to bring United level a mere minute or so after they should have been two down.

Roca wasn’t finished there and within five minutes he’d doubled his and United’s total with a sublime free-kick which reached Danby’s top corner from 25 yards out. The strike saw the visiting fans fall fittingly silent in the Cemetery End.

United nearly began the second half as Chester had started the first when a quick ball on the right found Roca, who was denied a hat-trick as his effort skipped no more than a yard past Danby’s post.

This seemed to spur Chester on as they had two glorious chances to level the scores. Firstly when Simm put the ball just wide from the edge of the box, and then Iain Howard brilliantly placed left footed effort beat Spencer but bounced back off the post to keep United a goal up.

The major turning point of the game came soon after when Jones pulled down Simm whilst trying to stop the Chester man from getting one-on-one with Spencer. Referee David Midgley had no option but to produce a second yellow for the Untied centre-half, reducing the Reds to ten men for the last half hour.

Roca was sacrificed for David Chadwick to fill the hole in the defence leaving three in midfield with Norton and Deegan up front as United looked to hopefully capitalise on the visitors pushing forward for a goal. And for the next ten minutes that’s what United did, looking the more dangerous of the two teams.

But with just over ten minutes left, the impressive Simm scored his second of the day as he coolly slotted home the rebound to level the scores after Spencer had made a point blank save from a header.

Just seconds before the winning goal, United had a golden opportunity to snatch the winner themselves after substitute Astley Mulholland chased down a loose pass to ‘keeper Danby who could only play the ball out to Matthew Wolfenden. Despite his quick reactions, Wolfy could only fire the ball into the side netting from 25 yards for what surely would have been the winning goal.

The game’s final twist came in the 89th minute. Chester punted the ball forward from a free-kick on the halfway line. After what appeared to be a push in the box, Horan fired home to get the goal he should have maybe had earlier in the afternoon. Mr Midgley waved away the protests and Chester claimed the three points which complete the double over United in the league this season.

Despite the defeat, the Reds gave a good account of themselves against what is possibly the best team in the league. FC United must take heart from this and try to build on the performance in the next few games which sees them playing teams below them in the league until the end of November.

Website man of the match: Carlos Roca – some good performances from several members of the team but keeping his cool with around 1,000 Chester fans willing him to miss his penalty in front of them and of course ‘that’ free-kick means Roca takes the award today.

Report by Craig Phillips