It was the curse of getting the "Team of the Round" for the JP Trophy. That's why we lost...

Missed the goal and the first ten minutes as they are digging up flaming Sealand Road, and the diversion takes you to the A55 towards Wales but I arrived just in time to see what was undoubtedly the turning point of the match IMO.

No, not the sending off. The departure of Matty Robson was what really did for us tonight.

Fairly innocuous challenge, but he couldn't continue and on came John Brackstone; he went to left back and Humphreys was pushed up into midfield - and Brackstone was absolutely woeful.

Both Chester goals came from crosses from our left. This was not a surprise as they very soon twigged that Brackstone was a weak link and they were putting virtually every attack down his side. Typical attack consisted of playing it out to the right for the wide man to collect, Brackstone suddenly realising he was 15 yards out of position and tear-arsing towards him in time to be only 5 yards away when the cross came in. Time after time. Humphreys was constantly having to come back and cover for him depriving us of an outlet, Clark or Nelson had to come over on occasion as well and with a man down Chester were able to exploit the weakness there - at one point there were three of them almost literally queuing up on the right wing waiting for the ball to reach them.

Problem No 1 tonight therefore was the lack of a left back and Wilson has to make this a priority. Disregarding the mostly injured Shug, have we had a proper left back since Mark Robinson, or a decent one since Paul Cross?

Problem No 2 was the ref who was pretty awful. The sending off was down the other end but some round me reckoned it was soft to say the least - there was stunned silence when Daly made his way off the pitch and down the tunnel. When the same was done to Porter not much later there wasn't even a card shown, and daly had already been elbowed himself just before with nothing done.

Problem No 3 was that having gone behind, we persisted in leaving one up front - first Porter, then when he'd run himself into the ground Brown. We needed to chase the game more, but Porter was left pretty isolated up front although Foley (who ran his socks off) did his best to combine right midfield and getting up to support him. I'd have taken Brackstone off and either gone with 3 at the back and pushed up Foley, or tried 4-3-2.

Some good performances - Porter worked himself to a standstill, Foley impressed with effort and some skill, Nelson and Clark (particularly Nelson) were immense, and Dimi made a couple of excellent stops. But overall the midfield didn't work too well - Bullock was particularly poor - and once we were down to 10 men we needed the likes of him to get the ball, hold on to it, and pass to someone else in a black shirt. Strachan anyone?

I'm annoyed with the performance overall because this was a game we could have won - even down to 10 men in the first half we had chances and were far from out of it. Especially if we've lost Robson for more than a few days we need to sort out a left back - but then that's an old old story......

so salty could be right
and i am still not convinced

why was jim dropped
why was strachan overlooked
porter carrying an injury all week and played
shades of boydie /scott scenario
biggest test next week we dare not fail

Here's something radical - sack Wilson and get in Paul Sturrock - now he CAN manage at this level.