Cheshire Senior Cup Final - 17Apr13

... as in Chester FC v Stalybridge Celtic played at "that industrial estate in the middle of nowhere" a.k.a. Witton Albion FC.

Following last night's thread - got train to 'Bridge - time for a quick pre-coach shandy in the "White House" (opposite Bus Station - nice'n'easy therefore !) before the fairly swift journey to Wincham Park.  There was no doubt that the Stalybridge faithful were going to be outnumbered - but in all honesty it was a p*ss poor turnout from Celtic - OK the season has not turned out the way people had hoped ... but it WAS a Cup Final for Frith's sake !!

And for those "stayaways" ... you missed a really good performance from the 'underdogs'.  A fairly even first half - albeit played in a howling gale (tell me about it - I' been walking round Saddleworth all morning/early afternoon in similar 20mph winds).  You could say that the turning point was the Chester penalty - some serios communication breakdown in the Celtic defence left Joel Bembo-Leta in the sh*t - foul - penalty - red card - Celtic 1-0 down.

However you would not have believed it was 10 vs 11.  Celtic kept plugging away, and just before the hour Chris Hall got away and fired in an equaliser which sent the few Celtic faithful into raptures ... and silenced the Chester massive.  However  the euphoria was short-lived (2 minutes to be exact !).  Once again the elements contrived to cock things up ... and Chester went 2-1 ahead.  There was still half an hour to go - and you cannot fault Celtic for their endeavour - they gave it their best shot, but unfortunately it was not enough.

We didn't hang around for the presentations etc (reckon the idea was to get the "Celtic Temperance Bus" back home before closing time - it worked !).  A quick couple in the Buffet Bar (Marble Brewery "Pint") before catching the last train back to Mossley - a couple of hours mucking about with photos -

Chester FC 2 Stalybridge Celtic 1 (Cheshire Senior Cup Final)

Maybe could have been better - it HAD been a long day ...and at least the camera is continuing to work !!!

So ... after two games in two days ... a restful evening - but now it's time to cook some tea ...
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