Brackley 2-1 defeat of Chester resurrect promotion hopes.

Today, with a second round FA cup knock out defeat behind them, middle of the table Brackley can now focus on what matters most, promotion into the conference, after six near previous attempts. With 18 matches played and most amount of games in hand, Brackley face even positioned Chester today and second from top Kings Lynn on Tuesday night. Two wins on the Trott would put Brackley Town right on track for where they need to be at Christmas. Brackley got off to a good start with a close attempt on goal in the opening moments of the match. The first 10 mins settled down with evenly matched end to end play as each side sought domination.

Above- close evenly matched play in the first half. Below- new Brackley scoreboard in Winter sunlight.

As the first half moved to a close, Brackley appeared to be losing momentum as some unnecessary play safe back passing created created a chance for Chester. This was followed by an incident in the Chester box, giving Brackley’s Shane Burnace a successful penalty kick and Brackley a one nil lead in the 44th min. As the first half closed, despite the lead, one could not help feeling that more was required from Brackley for the second half.

Chester came out fighting in the second half as expected looking for an equaliser. Signs of a better Brackley grip of the match were still lacking as most of the attacking early second half play was by Chester against the Brackley home goal. Lack of vocal support from the fans reflected itself with lack of support between the Brackley players for each other on the pitch. No decisive play up front as the pussy footing continued. How long Brackley would hold onto their flimsy lead remained as the clock hit the 60th min. All Brackley could do to try and brighten things up was make a substitution. In the 65th min, the inevitable happened Chester got an equaliser following an incident in the Brackley box leading this time to a Chester penalty.

Below- Brackley fans despite switch on of mobile phones fail to distract and stop the Chester equaliser from going in.

To everyone’s surprise, the equaliser was short lived. One min later , Brackley retaliated with a run into the Chester goal mouth and a shot which went in putting them 2-1 up in the 66th min. In the 73rd min Chester tried to stabilise things with a substitution of their own. Chester had looked the more settled side throughout the match but as the match moved into the closing 10 mins and with Brackley reasserting their lead, everything was now considerably more turbulent. In the 79th min, everything culminated when Brackley’s Bates was given a second yellow card for delaying a free kick reducing them down to 10 men. Chester threw everything at them with the closing advantage but nothing came of it and Chester were sent home packing with their first defeat in four previous outings. A bigger test faces Brackley Tuesday night when they are home to second place King’s Lynn. See GMK News for a full match report.