PREVIEW | Alder FC Women v Chester FC Women

    Chester FC Women are back in league action this weekend, as they face an away trip to face Alder FC Women at Alder Sports Club.

    The Seals recorded arguably their biggest win of the season last weekend beating the then league leaders Runcorn Linnets 2-0.

    Martin Fitzsimons’s side handed the Linnets just their second league defeat of that season and once more demonstrated their ability of holding their own against the best in the league. The win last time out for Chester saw them beat a team directly above in the league for the first time this season and also moved the Seals back up into 4th place in the league with 22 points recorded from 12 goals respectively.

    Sunday’s opponents Alder FC Women currently find themselves in 9th place in the league ahead of this weekend’s game having picked up just three wins from their 17 league games to date this season. The Liverpool outfit come into Sunday’s game without a win since the 20th November last year, a run of games that stretches to 8 without a win in all competitions. Both have already previously met this season with Chester recording an emphatic 8-3 victory in an 11 goal thriller which saw an incredible 9 goals scored in the second half with game tied 1-1 at half time.

    STAT ATTACK

    • Chester’s Molly Wood and Emma Gray both picked up hat-tricks when the two sides met in the reverse 8-3 victory in January,
    • Alder will be looking to pick up their first league win since November with victory on Sunday.
    • The Seals are currently unbeaten in their last three games against Alder in the league (8-3,4-0 & 0-3).

    FORM GUIDE (Most Recent First)

    Alder FC Women : DLLLL

    Chester FC Women : WLLLW

    Manager Thoughts

    ‘Last week was a big game for us. We needed to prove a point to ourselves. After undeservingly being on the wrong end of a defeat last week it was good to go out and prove it.

    “A deserved clean sheet and two good goals scored. The good thing is, of all the positives to come out of that game, the players are level headed enough to see where we could and perhaps should have done better. Runcorn are never an easy team to play against and we know what they’re about. But we managed them well causing them problems going forward but also managing any threats they had too.

    “As ever this week poses new challenges for us. Last time we played Alder, they surprised us, and came at us fast in the first ten; so we’ll be mindful of that again. Either way we’ll be looking to impose ourselves on them from the start. Runcorn is a bit of a derby game so there’s that added extra 10% you naturally get in those games, we need to find a way to bring that into the next game and become relentless”.

    “Since the Christmas break there’s been a great atmosphere within the squad. The foundation of what I expect for a Chester FC performance is there, week in, week out. Run together, play together, fight together. That gives us a solid platform to go and let our talents shine”.

    MATCH PREVIEW BY JORDAN McNICHOLAS