By Chris Thompson
March 11 2005

A review of Chester's first season back in league football and look in to the fast approaching summer as well as relegation chances. It's not quite proved to be the season it was led to be, when fans looked forward to the following season after the unforgettable victory at Scarborough.

It was only two days before the start of the season when everybody in Chester, including Stephen Vaughan and Mark Wright were preparing for the 46 games to go
that would gift us that 'easily' obtained return ticket to the dizzy heights of League 1.

...but then it all went wrong. The eve of the new season bought about a complete new angle on a club which has already seen so many from the days of Terry
Smith and relegation to name but a few. Mark Wright was forced out, and though it had to be done, I personally still look back and wonder how things could
be now if that day simply hadn't happened.

21st place, 3/4 quarters of that fantasised season longer, was certainly not where I expected us to be, especially as it sees us lie behind teams we know we
can be so much better than, one of which being Shrewsbury, who no fan need reminding of that we finished all those points above in the Conference last
year.

And after a summer which bought nearly a whole new team, suddenly it looks like we're living on a threadbare squad, the likely reason being down to the
departures of Darren Stamp, Daryl Clare, Kevin Ellsion, and Danny Collins, and the fast negative slide of players like Kevin Rapley and Andy Harris.

But of course there have been positives to take from this season. Ian Rush has shown glimmers of what he can do. It appears the squad is slated for its
directeness, and previously for its long-ball, which, with the departure of Kev Ellison, has been dropped from the extent at which it was at. But memorable
results against Macclesfield, Scunthorpe, Sheffield Wednesday and just last week against Southend, have proved to be quite impressive, and some of the new
additions have made a good impression. Foy has livened up the attack, and though Branch is still to show us all of his capability, we simply could not afford to
be without his lightening pace. Sestanovich is strong, and it'll be the test of time to see if he can shrug of his disappointing reputation on the discipline side of things.

Though we lie now just 9 points from the lowly relegation zone, it's still difficult to picture such a happening despite the recent evidence that Kidderminster and Cambridge may be on an uprise. The players are strong enough to pull us through the last 10 games, and certainly we can only look forward to next season and think positively. I think everyone can expect a haul of new players in the summer, as Rushy looks to make the squad his own, and already there are signs, having Steve Vaughan admitted their interest in Andy Parkinson, and (yet another)goalkeeper in Paul Harrison.

Just three more victories would probably be enough and they can definitey start in front of what is promised to be a lively atmosphere at Wycombe on Saturday