Wrexham hammer Chester in derby match

Wrexham.com for people living in or visiting the Wrexham area

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Nov 8th, 2017

Wrexham are joint top of the league this evening after beating relegation threatened Chester in the cross border derby.

Wrexham ran out 1-0 winners at the evening game with a Kelly freekick headed home by Pearson for the reds.

In a match that saw more action in the hype than on the pitch, Sam Wedgbury was perhaps lucky to escape a red card for a hefty challenge, himself double checking the colour of the card raised by the referee.

Chester hit the post in the 59th minute with a half volley from Dawson, and the bar in the 65th via Akintunde.

The game was notable for being the first non-bubble clash, with a prematch focus on any incidents no matter how minor to see how fans and police would deal with a return to normality.

Two small groups of supporters ‘clashed’ in Chester city centre around 3:20pm, police nearby promptly attended, but no arrests were made. Six dispersal notices were issued, which banned the recipients from the City Centre and effectively prevented them attending the match. A nearby pub was closed by police after the incident.

Chester Chairman says delay on police advice – 11 away coaches can’t get down the ‘cul-de-sac’. He says ‘no issues’ outside ground despite loads of blue lights. Fixture too big for Chester?

— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) November 8, 2017

The match kick off was delayed by 15 minutes due to ‘congestion’ outside the ‘stadium’ despite just 4,079 fans attending, with 1,200 of those being from Wrexham.

The Chester FC Chairman explained the ground was ‘down a cul-de-sac’ and therefore the 11 away coaches were unable to be dealt with promptly. Fans on the coaches were fearful of missing the kickoff, being sat in laybys rather than proceeding to the ground. Police advice to the match referee saw the 7:45pm kick off finally taking place just after 8pm.

Several rumours circulated on social media as to the reasoning for the delay – with some newspaper reporters saying buses had been subject to attack / trouble on the way to the ground. We have not seen or heard any first hand experience to back up that reporting.

Prematch there was an impeccably observed minutes silence. The game had no visible crowd issues, and pyrotechnics that had become a fixture of the tie were not seen. As of full time there were no other issues apparent, with Chester fans being allowed to leave the ground, and Wrexham fans held back to allow the home fans to dissipate.

A fuller update is expected tomorrow from police.