Chester City Preview - The Journey begins

By 4two
July 13 2004

Our First Pre-Season fixture is a trip to Chester. We haven't played them since 1994 - in a game we lost 2-1 on a cold March evening.

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MATCH DAY INFO
FIXTURE	Chester City Vs Walsall
STADIUM	Deva Stadium
LOCATION	Chester
COMPETITION	Pre-Season Game
DATE	17.07.2004
KICK OFF	3PM
TICKETS	Seats - £10, £5 Concs.  Standing £8, £4 Concs
JOURNEY	74 Miles, 1hr 30 Mins Traveling. (ROAD)
PARKING	£3 to park at the Club
GROUND GUIDE	CCFC Earlydoors (Incl Directions)

 

TEAM NEWS | CHESTER CITY vs WALSALL | PRE SEASON
	No reported injuries in the Chester camp. Manager Mark Wright has been busy in the Transfer Market this summer. Wright has snapped up Richard Hope from York. Andy Watson from non-league Farsley Athletic and Shaun Hessey from Blackpool. His biggest coup has been signing former Wolves, Everton and Bradford striker Michael Branch - a one time Walsall transfer target. All are expected to play.
	Merse will look to give his new look squad a run out. We should expect plenty of changes. We aren't expecting any trialists to play. It will be interesting to see whether he gives Darren Byfield a run out.  Byfield is currently training with the Club. Fans will hope to get their first look at the five Youth Teamers Merse awarded professional contracts to at the end of the season. There are no reports of injury worries.

 

WALSALL SQUAD

CHESTER CITY SQUAD

	Manager - Paul Merson	Manager - Mark Wright
	1. Mark Paston	Phil Bolland
	2. Bazeley, Darren	Michael Branch
	3. Aranalde, Zigor	Steve Brodie
	4. Simon Osborn	Wayne Brown
	5. Neil Emblen	Dean Buckley
	6. Roper, Ian	Paul Carden
	7. Michael Standing	Daniel Collins
	8. Gary Birch	Ben Davies
	9. Leitao, Jorge	Peter Dogun
	10. Merson, Paul	Stuart Drummond
	11. Wrack, Darren	Ian Foster
	12. Matty Fryatt	Scott Guyett
	14. Mark Wright	Andrew Harris
	15. Kris Taylor	Richard Hope
	16. Corica, Stevie	Chris MacKenzie
	17. Julian Bennett	Kevin McIntrye
	18. Ryan Willetts	Kevin Rapley
	19. Taiwo Atieno	Darren Stamp
	20. Daryl Taylor	Steve Vaughan
	21. Nathan Jamerson	Andy Watson
	27. Richard McKinney	Andrew Woods
	29. Iffy Onura
	00. Darren Byfield

 

SECOND THOUGHTS | MATCH PREVIEW
This is where it all starts. We get our first sight of what Paul Merson is doing with his Walsall team.  Merse says he doesn't like the 6 six subs rule - so he may choose to flaunt it by using more than he is allowed. Chester will provide us with some stiff opposition. Mark Wright is a top manager who has made some shrewd signings this summer.  Most notably Michael Branch, a player so often tipped to play for us during the Colin Lee era. With so many new faces this is going to be an important Summer. The question on most fans lips will be... Is Darren Byfield going to play for us...