| The Brian Little era starts at Wrexham with the
new manager having the opportunity of making an initial impact with
Wrexham fans with a derby match at home to Chester.
Brian Little has strengthened his squad with the capture
of winger Sam Aiston whilst his counterpart, Bobby Williamson, was left
frustrated with his
attempts to sign former Welsh international John Hartson from West Brom.
Chester are currently on a run of three straight
defeats, including one in the FA Cup, and this has left them in sixth
position with a return of 28 points from 16 games.
The first of these three defeats was at Bradford and
this was Chester's first away defeat in the league and ended an unbeaten
run stretching to seven games, but Chester currently enjoy the best away
record in league two with six wins from eight games.
Chester had enough of Bradford by the week had ended as
they exited the FA Cup with another defeat to the Bantams and this was
followed up last weekend with a 2-0 home defeat to early pace setters MK
Dons.
Top scorer for Chester is former Macclesfield striker
Jon Murphy with six goals in sixteen games so far this season.
Murphy was thought to be a one time target for Wrexham
in the summer but has failed to score in his last three games.
Chester is Bobby Williamson's fourth managerial job
after starting his career with a successful spell at Kilmarnock. This
earned him a move to Hibernian and then a later move to Plymouth and he
bizarrely collected the league title in his first game in charge.
But his tenure at Home Park did not last 18 months and
he was almost two years out of the game before joining Chester in the
summer.
Recent Encounters:
You have to go back to 1987 for Chester's last win at
the Racecourse and 1978 (of all years) for their last league win.
Last season, we had the upper hand with a 2-1 victory
at Chester courtesy of goals from Neil Roberts and Mark Jones
with the return match at the Racecourse ending goalless.
Our overall record in league derbies sees us ahead by
3 with 29 wins to Chester's 26 and there have been 19 draws in the 74
leagues games between the sides.
Team News:
New loan signing Sam Aiston is expected to go straight
into the match and will most likely feature at left wing back.
Danny Williams and Mark Jones are both out injured
with similar back injuries but on the plus side, all of the players on
international duty this week have returned without any problems.
Chester have Phil Bolland and Mark Hughes back in the
squad following suspension whilst Paul Linwood, who has been struggling
with double vision, is expected to return but top scorer Jon Murphy is a
doubt with a knee injury.
Elsewhere in League Two:
By the time the Chester game comes around we will
have three games in hand on most teams around us in the table but we
could be propping up the whole of the Football league if Lincoln collect
three points at home to Notts County.
Grimsby are our immediate target being once place and
a point above us in the table and the Mariners will be looking to build
on the midweek FA Cup win over League One Carlisle when they travel to
ninth placed Barnet.
At the top-of-the-table, leaders MK Dons entertain
seventh placed Chesterfield whilst second placed Hereford are at home to
Accrington following their midweek win at Leeds in the cup. |
