ASHLEY WILLIAMS is hoping to point the Blues to a derby victory tonight against Vauxhall Motors at Rivacre Park, (7.45pm kick-off).
The tenacious Chester-born midfielder played for Vauxhall before a two and a half year spell at Airbus UK Broughton and a move to his hometown club in January 2011.
Williams, who celebrated his 25th birthday earlier this month, plans to make an impact for league leaders Chester in tonight’s all-ticket encounter.
“Vauxhall will be a difficult place to go, but there should be a good atmosphere with it being a derby,” Williams said.
“It will be a tough game, but we will be going there full of confidence on the back of our 2-1 home win against Histon on Saturday.
“We’re not playing our best football at the minute, but we are managing to churn out results and at the end of the day we are picking up three points and we’re now top of the league table.
“Teams will always come to Chester and sit back to try and frustrate us, but we just have to be patient.
“It was a bit scrappy against Histon, but I was pleased to come on in the second half as a substitute. The gaffer just told me to get involved, get amongst them, and win possession in the middle of the park.
“It was great to get some minutes on the pitch, but I’m hoping that can now continue so that I can eventually get a starting place.”
Williams, who broke his collarbone last year during Chester’s 1-0 league defeat at Hednesford Town, is determined to win back a regular starting place for the Blues.
Williams made six consecutive starts for Chester at the start of this season, and was introduced on Saturday for the third time this term as a substitute.
He added: “I love trying to break the game up and keeping things simple. That’s my game and hopefully I can now win more time on the pitch.
“It’s important that I keep plugging away after having so many injury problems last season.
“We’ve got a great squad with plenty of strength in depth. There are still a lot of games to play and we can’t afford to get ahead of ourselves, but if we can keep winning games then we’ll be up there at the end of the season.
“Performance-wise I think Halifax our streets above anyone that we have played so far this season, but they don’t seem to be winning as many games as we have.”
Blues boss Neil Young, who may provide a debut to new loan signing Danny Williams tonight, confirmed that Matty McGinn would be sidelined for another month.
He said: “Danny is definitely a possibility for tonight’s match, but Matty won’t be involved because he’s looking to be out for a minimum of a month.
“We’re just waiting for the result of an ultra-sound scan to provide us with the full extent of Matty’s injury.
“I’m expecting a test against Vauxhall who have got a resilience about them, but we have got to regroup and see what we’ve got going forward.
“Vauxhall are a hard working side and they’ll be organised because their manager Carl Macauley has got a good team spirit going there and I watched them last week against Oxford City and they played with 10 men for a lot of the second half and still won.
“I had to give my lads credit after our 2-1 home win on Saturday because although we didn’t play well we still managed to get over the line.
“Hard work and graft is always at the top of my priority list for players, but that’s also the way I manage.
“We have signed technically good players, but at the very top of that list is a case of them working their socks off and having the ability to grind out results and work hard for one another.
“If you have technical ability and you’re mentally strong, then you’ve got half a chance. My lads have got great technical ability, but they have also got that will to do well and stick together.”
- Former Chester City manager Kevin Ratcliffe is the guest speaker at the next meeting of the Senior Blues this Friday, in the Blues Bar at the Exacta Stadium (11am start).
Hot pot, tea, coffee and biscuits will be served and new members are invited along. Membership is £5 and is open to the 55 year olds and over.