NEIL YOUNG today threw down the gauntlet to his newly assembled squad of players.
The Blues boss admitted he had been disappointed about his team’s 2-0 loss at Colwyn Bay in their opening pre-season friendly.
And Young insisted that changes would be made to his playing staff if they failed to show any improvement after accusing his players of not doing enough to win Saturday’s match.
He said: “I thought the match was an eye-opener because, as I said to the lads after the match, wearing a Chester shirt and having 1,600 people watching them and having the opportunity of playing at the Deva Stadium doesn’t give them a divine right to win a football match.
“Maybe now, after losing the Colwyn Bay match, a few players have been given a kick up the backside that they need and realisation might start to hit home.
“A lot of players have been quickly signed in the last seven weeks and they’ve never played in the same team before. They’ve had the best of everything so far, so hopefully the realisation has kicked in.
“If my players don’t come up to scratch in the next four weeks they won’t be here – we’ll move them on and we’ll bring somebody else in. It’s part and parcel of non-league football I’m afraid and I was disappointed that we didn’t create enough chances for Michael Wilde to go at.
“I don’t think we worked the Colwyn Bay goalkeeper once throughout the game, but I thought we should have had two penalty kicks awarded – the Mark Connolly incident was a stone-wall penalty.
“But we didn’t do enough to win the game, it’s as simple as that.”
And Young also revealed he had been saddened by the off-field problems which had forced the referee to call the game to a temporary halt 10 minutes before the end.
He added: “The game ended in a very disappointing way off the pitch, but that isn’t something I need to talk about.
“It is very unfortunate, but I don’t know what has gone on and I’m sure the authorities have dealt with the situation in the way they should.
“The incident did affect several players in the changing room after the match because their families were at the game.
“The lads were obviously worried for their families like most people who were at the game.
“In the first 20-30 minutes I thought we were very good. We passed and moved the ball and tried to play as much as we could.
“Michael Wilde hit a post with a header and in my opinion we should have been awarded a penalty.
“But we lost our way a little bit in the last 10 minutes of the half and we had a good chat about the situation at half time.
“We didn’t get a foothold in the game after the break and I thought their midfield started to take control.
“We then started to tire, and Colwyn Bay scored.
“Goals change games and they definitely got a lift from scoring. Apart from a 10 minute spell, I thought Colwyn Bay looked a better side in the second half.
“It was good to see every player in action, but I like to win games of football and winning is a good habit to get into.
“The players were told that they didn’t produce the good habits that I wanted them to fulfil.
“I knew tiredness was a little bit of an excuse and a lot of the lads were concerned about what was happening off the field, but we came to play football and we never lived up to the expectation that we showed in the first half.
“People have to remember that the game was arranged early in pre-season as part of the package to bring me to Chester.
“But it was a good friendly because Colwyn Bay are a good club, they have nice people, and they gave us just what we needed – a good competitive game.”
Young, who included defender George Horan and striker Michael Wilde in his side, revealed that he was hoping to clinch a deal for a striker either today or tomorrow.
He said: “We have made an offer to a centre forward and he’s gone away to think about it. He told me he would let me know today or tomorrow whether he would be signing for the club.
“The player in question is similar to Michael Wilde and there have been a lot of teams chasing him, but now it’s down to one other club as well as ourselves and I’m hoping to bring him to Chester."
- Chester will face Aberystwyth at the Deva Stadium in the Blues’ first home friendly to be played on Saturday, July 24, (3pm kick-off).