A young Fleetwood Town side lost 3-0 to Chester in a pre-season friendly at the Deva Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Even though Fleetwood created chances throughout the game, it was the home side who took the win on an overcast day in Chester. The Seals opened the scoring early on through an Anthony Dudley strike, with two second-half goals from James Hardy and substitute Jude Oyibo adding to their tally.
Chester had the first chance of the game six minutes in, and it ended up in the back of the net as Anthony Dudley drove down the right wing before hitting a low shot across goal, which beat Billy Crellin to make it 1-0.
Town weren’t disheartened by the early goal as they then started to apply pressure of their own, starting with a run from the left by Cian Hayes, finding his way into the home box, but his shot flies just over the crossbar.
The pressure continued and the next chance would happen in the 20th minute as Barry Baggley was able to loft the ball over the defence, towards Chris Conn-Clarke, who calmly took the ball down before shooting on goal, only for his effort to be blocked.
On the half-hour mark, Baggley was in the action again as he picked up the ball on the right, pushed it onto his left foot, and curled a shot towards the top left corner, which forced Louis Gray into a diving save.
Another chance for the Cods soon followed as it was the link-up between Baggley and Conn-Clarke once again, with the latter taking his chance with a strike from the edge of the box, which needed to be blocked by Livesay.
The home side had the last effort of the half as former Cod George Glendon found a yard of space 20-yards out, but struck his shot well over the bar, not worrying Crellin in the Fleetwood net.
Chester started the second period as they did in the first as they were on the attack from the whistle.
John Johnston’s shot in the 52nd minute needed to be blocked by the backtracking Ben Thompson, before Dudley capitalised on a defensive mistake as he played through Hardy, who slotted home.
Conn-Clarke went close soon after as Sam Bird did well in pick the ball off Declan Weeks in the midfield. The ball was then played to Conn-Clarke 25-yards out, with space all around him, so he tried his luck, with his looping shot hitting the roof of the net.
Town continued to press for a goal with Baggley being the main attacker involved as he created two identical chances 20-yards out, which he hit with his left foot both times and forced two saves out of Gray.
Chester then made it three with 20 minutes to go as substitute Jude Oyibo – who replaced J.Johnston just before the hour mark – cut inside from the right, showing his skills to get past Bird at the same time, with the forward then powering a strike into the bottom left.
Yet again, the home side’s goalkeeper proving to be tough to get past for Town’s attackers late on in the game as Conn-Clarke was played through by Baggley with less than 15 minutes to go, who left his marker and smashed a shot towards goal, but Gray was a match for it.
The final chance of the game fell to Town as they earned a free-kick 20-yards out with five minutes to go. Conn-Clarke stood over the set-piece, but his eventual shot went just over the crossbar.
Town XI: Crellin (GK), Bird, Hayes (Wallace 77’), Boyle, Wilson, Teale, Johnston, Thompson (Raffie 69’), McMillan (Edwards 77’), Baggley (Smith 77’), Conn-Clarke.
Subs not used: Rees (GK).
Chester XI: Gray (GK), Weeks (Burke 82’), Livesay (Clarke 82’), Cowan, Hardy (Clark 68’), Glendon (Lowe 82’), Dudley (Sloane 74’), Stephenson (Waring 59’), Williams, Morgan (Marsh-Hughes 74’), Johnston (Oyibo 59’).
Subs not used: Worsnop (GK).