NEIL YOUNG today revealed he is looking to strengthen his defensive options.

The Chester boss, who watched his side secure a comfortable 4-0 league win at Salford City, admitted he is in talks to sign Southport and former Chester City defender, Rob Marsh-Evans.

He said: “We are currently being linked with a move for Rob Marsh-Evans.

“I have had discussions with Southport about Rob, and I’ve met the player and he has now gone away to think about which way he wants to go with it.

“Hopefully I’ll have a decision early this week. He’s 6ft 5in and he can play left back or centre back which gives me another option and will give us another string to our bow.”

Young admitted he had been delighted to see his side pocket three valuable points at Salford to take the Blues up to fourth place in the Division One North league table.

“I was obviously happy to come away with another clean sheet, and to score four goals,” said Young. “It was a case of job done, but there were bits in the first half that I wasn’t too pleased with. I thought we were a bit lethargic at times, but if you win 4-0 away from home you’ve got to be pleased.

“Salford is always a difficult place to go to because they have a hardworking side. Chorley have been there and lost in the FA Cup, but I thought we were just a little bit too experienced for them.

“A lot has been made of our defeat last week at home against Chorley, but at the end of the day it was only three points on show.

“We could have won the game in the first half, but we didn’t, and we never performed in the second half. They scored a penalty that should never have been awarded, but they played the better football in the second half.

“But we made changes for our cup match at Leek on Tuesday and the lads won, and we made a number of changes for the Salford match and the lads won again, so that’s all I can ask for at the moment."

Young, who saw Bradley Barnes, Michael Wilde, Iain Howard and Mark Connolly goals secure a convincing victory at Salford, admitted he had been pleased to see Connolly wrap up proceedings with a stunning goal from a free kick.

He added: “Mark Connolly has done well for me. He’s come from the Welsh Premier League and he’s found it more difficult than he thought it might be to come and play in the English system, because every game is a battle against whoever we play.

“But he’s now starting to realise what is required after not being able to play at the pace of previous games.

“I thought he was outstanding at Leek in our cup tie, and he was very good during the second half at Salford.

“He took his goal from the free kick very well and all credit to him. He’s known for his free kicks and he struck it well enough and it was a great finish.

“We had plenty of chances in the second half, but I asked the players to squeeze a bit higher up the pitch because I thought Salford were having far too much time on the ball.

“I thought we were too open in the first half, but we were quite clinical after having three chances and scoring from two of them.

“Goals change games and we managed to take our chances, and against most teams if we take chances we get stronger.

“We could probably have had more goals in the end, but 4-0 at Salford is a very good result.

“I decided to go with four solid lads across the midfield, and I brought Mark (Connolly) and Iain (Howard) in who can run up and down the wing all day.

“Iain Howard did well and he worked hard, but he has to get used to the way we are set up.

“He was given more of a free role at his previous club, Ashton, than what we give him at Chester, but the one thing he doesn’t do is duck work.

“I thought the back four all did well because I can’t remember Salford having a single shot on goal that troubled Richard Whiteside.

“Bradley Barnes snapped away in midfield, Carl Ruffer is very strong as he proved it against Salford because Rhodri Giggs (brother of Manchester United winger, Ryan) is a handful for any defender, but Carl dealt with him very well.

“And Tom Field did well when he came on for the final 20 minutes. He got himself around the pitch and in people's faces, which is everything that I am asking them to do.”