Vics 1 Chester 1 (WITH PICTURES) (From Northwich Guardian)

Substitute Ryan Wade rescues a point for Northwich Victoria against Chester

12:47am Tuesday 27th December 2011 in Match reports By Andrew Simpson

IT was a day when both managers could be happy with the outcome, kind of.

Neither team lost – or gained – ground in the race for first place but either could feel regret for wasting a chance to do exactly that after a derby dripping with drama.

Good job, for there was next to no quality.

Chester, given a gift of Northwich goalkeeper Ben Hinchliffe’s dismissal for handball before a quarter hour was up, did not make their neighbours pay.

Wes Baynes scored direct from the resulting free kick, which wriggled through the fingers of stand-in custodian Lewis Short, but it did not inspire an onslaught.

Instead the table-toppers – odds stacked in their favour from that moment – were relieved to hear the final whistle when it came, for by then they had nine men on the pitch.

It was that sort of afternoon.

“We wanted to win, but are not disappointed to draw,” said manager Neil Young afterwards.

His opposite number Andy Preece reached a similar verdict, musing: “We disappointed not to win, but have to be happy with a point.”

They did not agree on the bits in between.

Young was furious with the match officials for the decision to send off captain Michael Powell in the minutes before half time after he had clashed with John Disney.

Not least because it seemed to swing on the verdict of a linesman stood furthest away from what had happened.

“It was the most bizarre moment I have ever seen in my time watching football,” he said.

“How can a linesman on the other side of the field make a decision that the other two officials can’t when both of them were less than 20 yards away?

“It’s unbelievable.”

Almost as incredulous was the visitors doing little more than send two shots – one from Antoni Sarcevic and another from Iain Howard – straight at Short before the break.

At the other end, Baynes smuggled the ball to safety after goalkeeper John Danby diverted Nathan Woolfe’s attempted lob skywards following a rare Vics raid.

When Preece called upon a third goalkeeper in the form of midfielder Michael Roddy for the second half, it still felt like damage limitation.

But Chester, narrower after their own enforced reshuffle, gave an escape route for the hosts’ full backs down the flanks.

Jordan Johnson headed off target from Chris Budrys’ cross, then Danby ended the danger posed by Short’s quick exchange of passes with Tom Field.

Roddy was under-employed save for sticking a boot in the way of Howard’s drive.

Northwich restored parity when Ryan Wade, like he had done against Ilkeston in the FA Trophy, came off the bench to deliver a decisive touch.

This time it came after Short’s long throw was allowed to travel too far by Chester’s backline.

Wade, waiting at the back post, supplied an emphatic finish.

When Baynes was then sent off for a two-footed lunge at Short, it was the title favourites’ turn to hang on.

Christian Smith almost nicked a winner when he stretched every sinew to reach Howard’s corner, then got lucky at the other end when he appeared to shove Ian Kearney inside the penalty area.

For the first time, referee David O’Rourke proved reluctant to a make a decision. So he didn’t.

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Vics’ Star Man Ian Kearney. A picture of intensity from the first minute after dominating Matty McNeil in their first aerial duel.

It set the tone and Vics’ captain, in tandem with Dominic Collins, together proved a formidable barrier for Chester to penetrate.

Word too for stand-in shot-stoppers Lewis Short and Michael Roddy, who both were brave to stick up their hand to do a difficult job.

Short should probably have saved Wes Baynes’ free kick, but he made up for that by supplying the throw from which Ryan Wade scored the hosts’ leveller.

Vics Hinchliffe (GK), Disney (Wade 76), Kearney, Collins, Short, Riley (Roddy 46), Armstrong, Field, Woolfe, Johnson, Budrys
Subs not used Smyth, Fitzpatrick, Clarke
Goal Wade 78
Booked Kearney, Disney (both fouls)
Sent off Hinchliffe (handball)

Chester Danby (GK), Baynes, Taylor, Smith, Brownhill, Sarcevic, Powell, Brown, Howard, McNeil, Wilde (Simm 60, Booth 83)
Subs not used Duggan, Holden, Wright
Goal Baynes 13
Booked Brownhill, Wilde (both fouls)

Referee David O’Rourke (Liverpool)
Attendance 2,864