SAM’S JUST THE MAN TO SEAL IT FOR BLUES

YOUNGSTER Sam Hughes showed both his Chester team-mates and Braintree how it’s done after his early finish handed all three points to Jon McCarthy’s Blues.

In a game which saw both sides squander a number of chances, it was the 19-year-old midfielder who found the breakthrough with a close-range finish from Elliott Durrell’s corner.

Chez Isaac and Brandon Goodship both might have earned a point for the Iron in a frantic finale, while Sim Akinola struck a post.

But it was Hughes’ strike which helped Chester extend their unbeaten run to three matches.

“The points are the most important thing, but there are elements where we can do better,” McCarthy admitted afterwards.

“This has been a massive week for the group in terms of development, three clean sheets and seven points from nine, which puts us where I think we should be.”

McCarthy continued: “We have used 19 players now, and it feels like everybody knows what they have to do. We have a good group who understand their respective roles when they have to come on, we are now a difficult side to beat.

“We had more players with spark today and more quality. Our play was really good early on, and we were disciplined to manage the game towards the end.”

In contrast, Iron boss Jamie Day was left frustrated after another profligate display. “We were on the back foot for the first 20 minutes and conceded a very sloppy goal. We just didn’t react in the box, we should have dealt with it,” he said. “But, I thought we got ourselves back into the game in the last ten minutes of the first half, we started to get control a bit. “In the second half we were the better team.We got ourselves into good positions, but the end product wasn’t quite there. “When we did get a chance we didn’t hit the target or test their keeper, which was disappointing.” Kane Richards and James Akintunde both missed early chances to put Chester in front, while Akinola was unlucky when a snap shot from 20 yards beat home keeper Liam Roberts, but it rattled against the upright. In the end, it was Chester who struck just after the quarter-hour mark – Durrell’s corner not dealt with by the Braintree defence and Hughes was left with the simple job of slotting home from close range. Hughes was unlucky not to add a second just after the restart when he found space at the far post, only for his strong header to rattle the Braintree post. The Iron finished the game the stronger with both Isaac and Goodship spurning chances but Chester held on to ensure they go into Saturday’s crunch derby with crossborder rivals Wrexham in good spirits.