Penalty misses anger Wright
This report appears in this morning's Times newspaper, written by Mark Venables:
BE WARY of mentioning penalty kicks within earshot of Mark Wright, the Chester City manager, as his team’s inability to convert from 12 yards has been their Achilles’ heel in recent months.
Earlier this year, their attempt to secure promotion to the Football League ended when they lost to Doncaster Rovers in a penalty shoot-out and on Saturday, Ian Foster, a substitute, missed a penalty three minutes from time that would have secured victory.
Had Chester won this tense and often dour confrontation between the top two sides in the Nationwide Conference, the three points would have moved them above Hereford to the top of the table.
“When you get a penalty late on it should win you the game,” Wright said. “Penalties are our downfall at present. There’s a long way to go and we are still unbeaten for a long time, but we can’t be happy with a point when you get a penalty that late on.”
To add insult to injury, Chester were reduced to ten men moments later when Jamie Heard was shown a second yellow card for an impulsive lunge at Michael Rose. “It was a little bit rash from Heard,” Wright said. “When it’s late in the game you don’t need to go flying in; he should have stayed on his feet.”
Wright proclaimed himself content with the performance but must have been troubled by the lack of creativity on show from his team. No one would question Chester’s defensive fortitude; just seven goals conceded in 15 matches this season is ample evidence of their strengths. But when Daryl Clare is not at his best — on Saturday, in just his second game back from injury, he was well off the pace — they lack the guile and penetration to trouble defences. It was 79 minutes before they achieved a shot on target and until the penalty, Matt Baker, the Hereford goalkeeper, did not have a shot to save.
For Hereford, the league leaders, defeat would have been unmerited. In a game of few chances they created the best — two in each period — but for the first time this season they failed to get their name on the score sheet. “We would have settled for a point before the game,” Graham Turner, their manager, said. “That just proves how difficult it is to break Chester down. They have got some very good defenders, but we still had four chances to score.”
The first fell to Paul Parry, who headed a cross from Tamika Mkandawire tantalisingly wide of a post early on. Later in the half, Ian McCaldon smartly blocked a goalbound effort from Ben Smith and the goalkeeper needed to be just as alert early in the second half to scramble across his goalline to push a quickly taken free kick from Danny Williams round a post.
But the best chance of the afternoon fell to the usually clinical Steve Guinan, who failed to add to his tally of 11 league goals after shooting straight at McCaldon when sent clear.
With more than a third of the season played, Hereford have proved themselves to be the team that the rest of the championship aspirants need to catch. The central midfield pair of Smith and Jamie Pitman provide a complementary blend of guile and aggression and the wide play of Williams and Parry is a constant threat.
When they keep the ball on the grass and weave the neat, intricate patterns that have become their trademark, feeding the fleet-footed Guinan and Dave Brown, his strike partner,they can be irresistible.
In recent campaigns the depth of talent has been their downfall, but this time Turner has reinforced his squad astutely to give the supporters hope that they can reclaim the Football League place they lost six years ago. “We think we can play better than that,” Turner said. “We’ve not passed the ball as well as we have been doing."
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