Tuesday February 14, 1995. League Division Two.

Wrexham 2 Chester City 2; attendance 5,698.

Wrexham: A.Marriott, B.Jones, P.Hardy, B.Hughes, B.Hunter, M.Pejic, G.Bennett, G.Owen, K.Connolly, S.Watkin, K.Durkan (J.Cross 72).

Chester: D.Felgate, R.Preece, I.Jenkins, G.Shelton, J.Alsford, C.Lightfoot, D.Flitcroft (J.Burnham 81), C.Priest, A.Milner, S.Rimmer (D.Page 89), E.Bishop.

Valentines Day it might have been but it was unlikely that any love would be lost between these two local rivals.

With almost three months of the season remaining Chester were already wearing the look of dead men. They had not won since the start of November and only picked up four points in the eleven games they had played since. The Seals were stranded at the bottom of Division Two and, with five teams going down that season, they were fourteen points shy of safety.

Wrexham were harbouring vague hopes of the play offs. They occupied 12th position in the table trailing the play off places by nine points. This game represented their game in hand, however, so if a push was to be mounted this was a must win game.

There was a frantic start to the game and it would be a full twenty minutes before there was any sort of a lull.

In the second minute Wrexham’s former Chester striker Gary Bennett rose to plant a header past David Felgate but the celebrations of the home team were cut short as the referee signalled for a push on Julian Alsford. The decision looked mighty generous to the defender.

Within a minute Bennett was causing more problems for the Chester defence and as he burst into the penalty the striker went down as both Alsford and Chris Lightfoot came across to challenge. The referee had no hesitation in giving the penalty.

Bennett stepped forward to take the kick but despite making decent contact Felgate flung himself the right way and parried the ball to safety.

Wrexham continued to press with Karl Connolly joining Bennett in causing the Chester defence all manner of problems but the visitors somehow kept their goal intact before snatching the lead in their first attack on 12 minutes.

Andy Milner was flattened by Barry Hunter looking to latch onto a knock down inside the box and Chester had a penalty of their own. Eddie Bishop stepped forward to send Andy Marriott the wrong way and give the visitors a shock lead.

This was a lead the relegation haunted side needed to guard jealously but within four minutes they were actually behind. Connolly was sent storming through the inside left channel to slam Wrexham level and then combined with Gareth Owen to supply Bennett, completely unmarked, with the opportunity to drill the home side in front from penalty spot range.

With passions running high on and off the pitch tempers began to fray and the tackling became ever fiercer on the heavy pitch. Bryan Hughes was booked for one late challenge and Lightfoot became the first Chester man in the book for another bone jarring tackle.

Chances were becoming harder to fashion as the game got bogged down in the mud and the growing animosity but both Bennett and Hughes went close for Wrexham before Marriott pulled off a superb reaction save to deny the lively Milner an equaliser.

With half time approaching the game exploded into life again in controversial fashion.

Lightfoot was shown a second yellow and sent packing after a foul on Steve Watkin that seemed less serious than many others which had gone unpunished and moments later Bishop was shown a straight red after a flag waving linesman had drawn the referees’ attention to an off the ball hack at Bennett.

Not only were Chester therefore trailing at the interval they faced playing the second half two men short.

Half Time: Wrexham 2 Chester City 1

David Flitcroft fell deeper at the start of the second half to augment the Chester defence with Stuart Rimmer dropping into a more withdrawn position also as Chester looked to overcome their two man handicap. In general, however, the visitors simply adopted an all hands to the pump mentality and set about chasing and tackling everything that moved as though their lives depended upon it.

So successful was this strategy in the early stages of the second period that they actually managed to push their hosts back for a spell and apply some pressure through a series of corners.

These came to nothing and Wrexham, inevitably, began to dominate. The visitors had been galvanised by their spirited response to going two men down, however, and with their fans eagerly cheering them on their resistance remained dogged.

The Wrexham fans, on the other hand, became increasingly frustrated with their teams’ efforts and this anxiety soon transmitted itself to the players.

Felgate was called upon to make a splendid reaction stop to deny Watkin and the Wrexham striker then glanced a header just wide but these were fleeting chances as the home teams’ approach play became more and more hopeful.

As the game reached its’ last quarter the visitors began to tire as their exertions on the sapping pitch took a growing toll. Still they were clinging on and hoping for a break, however.

The game looked up as Bennett went through and squeezed his shot between Felgate’s legs but Alsford got back to clear the ball off the line at full stretch with Watkin closing in for the kill and Chester survived once more.

Then Jonathan Cross, the Wrexham substitute, rose to meet a deep Connolly centre but his header back across goal was neither an obvious effort on goal or attempt to locate a teammate and another chance had gone begging.

Another chance came when Phil Hardy sliced open the remains of the Chester defence to send Owen running clear but with Felgate advancing the midfielder clipped his shot too high.

Chester had been hoping for one chance to get back into the game and with five minutes remaining it arrived. Chris Priest booted clear from defence and when Milner challenged for possession on halfway the ball broke kindly for him and he was away.

The Chester forward still had half the length of the pitch to negotiate but having strode to the edge of the box he finished with aplomb, curling the ball round Marriott for a dramatic equaliser.

The Chester fans spent three minutes celebrating madly and then another three minutes whistling frantically for the final whistle as Wrexham came back looking for a winner.

Deep into stoppage time Bennett had the ball in the net again but for the second time on the night the referee spotted an infringement and the nine men had, astonishingly, got their draw.

This result seemed of little use to either side and so it proved, Wrexham ending up well short of the play offs and Chester comprehensively relegated in the final reckonings.

On derby days the bigger picture doesn’t always matter as much, however, and such was the case here. The Chester players and fans celebrated as though they had won the cup while the Wrexham players and supporters trudged away discontentedly.

Bragging rights were certainly Chester’s on this memorably controversial night.

Full Time: Wrexham 2 Chester City 2