Blues Match Report: Chester 2 - 1 Marine

Second-half goals from Sam Foley and Jefferson Abreu saw Phil Parkinson’s men earn all three points at the Deva Community Stadium against Marine.

During an opening period with very limited goalmouth action, the opening opportunity fell to Marine’s Charlie Jolley whose effort was deflected narrowly wide from an acute angle.

The Blues were forced into an early alteration just after the half-hour mark when Billy Waters came off through injury and was replaced by Jefferson Abreu.

Despite extended periods of Chester pressure, the following chance fell to Bobby Grant’s side as Finlay Sinclair-Smith’s effort was pushed out to Ben Darby, whose shot was blocked from close-range.

Abreu did brilliantly to beat his man down the left-hand side early in the second period but his drilled cross was cleared to safety.

The Mariners took the lead just before the hour mark through Cole Simms, who tapped in from close-range following a precise low cross from Sinclair-Smith.

Sam Reed almost responded shortly after when he moved inside and curled an effort narrowly past the woodwork.

The contest was levelled on the 69th minute when Sam Foley flicked a header into the bottom corner after a dangerous in-swinging corner by Connor Woods.

Abreu looked lively consistently following his introduction, and our number 19 made the difference after coming off the bench, firing under the despairing dive of Jack McIntyre to complete the home turnaround.

Wesley Frimpong was shown a late second yellow card for the Blues, but it failed to temper the high spirits as we secured a third home league win on the bounce.

Starting XI: Hewitson, Burroughs, Woodthorpe, Weeks, Griffin, McHale, Waters, Foley, Woods, Reed, Butt.

Substitutes: Mackin, Murphy, Burgess, Abreu, Boggan, Moore, Frimpong.

Scorers: Simms 56′, Foley 69′, Abreu 81′.