Preston Grasshoppers vs. Chester, 9th November 2019, Kick Off 2.30pm
Preston Grasshoppers next opponents at Lightfoot Green will be visitors from Cheshire in the shape of Chester RUFC this coming Saturday.
After failing in their bid to play in National 1 at the end of last season through the play off system Chester, similar to ourselves haven’t had the best of starts this season and currently lie one place below Hoppers with a game in hand. Their game last week was cancelled at short notice due to a fatality amongst their visitors from Scunthorpe.
The Hoppers team and their supporters travelled home from Leicestershire last Saturday evening with thoughts of what could have been once again. The visitors had ample opportunities to capitalise on their territorial superiority, failing to do so only resulting in the big boot of Joe Wilson sending them back into their own half of the field.
Ewan Naylor made his debut for the first fifteen in the game at Leicester Road and when Christian Taylor, who has featured in every game so far this season next takes the field for Hoppers, it will be his fiftieth appearance.
It was good to see Oga featuring for the 1st XV once again after his long injury lay off and bringing with him news of other team members soon to be seen playing for the firsts.
Before Chester’s promotion to National 2 North, the two teams last met in competitive action during Hoppers short stay in North 1 back on the 5th of February 2005 when a relatively comfortable away victory was achieved by twenty points to five completing the double that season for Hoppers. Since then a couple of pre-season ‘training’ fixtures have taken place, both at Chester’s ground with honours shared until the current series of League games.
Fixtures between the two clubs go back over fifty years when the inaugural game took place at our Lea ground on the 23rdof October 1965 where Hoppers won by a single point in a game of thirty three. All told there have been thirty three meetings between the two clubs with our opponents winning twenty two and Hoppers the other third. Add to this a cancelled game from Good Friday 1989 plus a couple of pre-season games and you have the full picture.
Team News
1. Oga MABAYA
2. PJ MILLEA (C)
3. John BLANCHARD
4. Adam HOWARD
5. Sam WALLBANK
6. Ryan CARLSON
7. Toby HARRISON
8. Matt LAMPREY
9. Jake SQUIRRELL
10. Joe PRIOR
11. Tyler SPENCE
12. Nick GREGSON
13. Sam STOTT
14. Jacob BROWNE
15. Scott JORDAN
REPLACEMENTS: 16. C. TAYLOR, 17. D. MADDEN, 18. L. PROCTER, 19. B. DORRINGTON, 20. A. HURST
