The headline’s boldness could not conceal the sense of anxiety. ‘LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE BOYS’ bellowed the back page of the News & Star on Saturday April 8, 2000.
A few millimetres down, the bottom end of Division Three told the true and sorry tale. Carlisle were third bottom, dangling two points above the relegation place occupied by Chester City.
Sandwiched between them were Shrewsbury Town, but on that April afternoon there was only one story: D-Day at the Deva Stadium. Chester v Carlisle. The battle of the desperate; two follicly-challenged men fighting over one comb.
It is hard to overstate how much was felt to be riding on the contest between Martin Wilkinson’s United and Ian Atkins’ Chester. On Carlisle's side, they had learned nothing from the previous season’s Jimmy Glass rescue and were at it again at the foot of the Football League.
The 1999/2000 season unfolded in an increasingly bitter climate around Michael Knighton’s ownership, and a team listing under the pressure. In that respect it was a relief they were not the only basket case.
Chester were, at this stage, also in strife, the enigmatic ownership of American Terry Smith having led them into disarray. Smith had earlier appointed himself manager but come the middle of the season reverted to the more traditional scrapping qualities of future Blues boss Atkins to try and avert disaster.
United had, helpfully, won three of their previous six games – an unlikely burst of relative form which kept their survival hopes afloat. They were also boosted by veteran striker John Durnin’s decision to extend his loan deal from Portsmouth ahead of the Chester clash – while a certain J Glass had rebuffed an approach from the Deva Stadium club, not wanting to sully his status with United.
There was bold talk from the home side ahead of the six-pointer, with Chester frontman Luke Beckett declaring an aim to go unbeaten until the end of the season, as well as seeking a win over United that would “put the cat amongst the pigeons.”
“It won’t be a pretty game,” he added, and that proved the only of his three forecasts that came off. It was, to little surprise, a dreadful springtime spectacle, one that was watched by an admirably large and vocal travelling Carlisle support, who ventured to Chester on buses put on by both the club and the News & Star, and many of whom marched through Chester with defiant banners ahead of the relegation showdown.
Such were United’s ways, even an awful game could attract the most remarkable melodrama. To get there, a slow-motion contest of dismally low quality and fraying nerves had first to unfold.
Carlisle keeper Luke Weaver was the busier of the two goalkeepers in the first half, and would have had more to do were it not for the diligence of Shaun Teale in front of him.
The former Aston Villa veteran repelled almost everything Chester threw. It was a throwback performance from the centre-half, whose younger partner, teenage Cumbrian Paul Reid, also defended with great character.
United’s defiance, though, looked like crumbling when things descended in the second half. Two red cards threatened to scar the day in a serious way. First, ref Kevin Lynch dismissed Stuart Whitehead for an apparent elbow, after tussling with Chester’s Gary Hobson.
Later, Stephen Halliday was sent off for dissent, and the closing stages played out with United filing into an improbable 7-0-1 formation.
The injury-time scenes have long entered United legend. A sudden break down the left by Peter Clark, as coach Paul Baker bellowed at him to take the ball into the corner.
Clark, with the innocence of youth, ignored him, instead passing inside to substitute Scott Dobie.
The Cumbrian thrashed his right foot through the ball. It was Carlisle's only shot on target. Inevitable and unrestrained pandemonium followed. Blues fans spilled onto the pitch and swarmed towards Dobie and his team-mates. Relief and disbelief exploded together, and a 1-0 victory landed a surreal blow on Chester’s fading hopes.
Baker later attempted to compose some thoughts for the media. “When we sent Scott on, we just said, ‘Go out and win the game for us’,” the coach said. It may have been his most prescient team-talk.
“I wouldn’t say I aimed it – I just hit it,” was Dobie’s honest version of the goal...while the embattled Knighton said: “We have got to stop these nail-biting battles.”
So much for that. United, instead of using Chester as a springboard, reverted to type over the run-in, and a period of four games without scoring kept their rivals in the race.
It culminated in another excruciating final day, when a Carlisle defeat at Brighton, coupled with Chester’s loss to Peterborough, saw United scrape home on goal difference: an episode which, all in all, summed up the Blues of that era in all their dreadful but still remarkably compelling ways.
Chester: Brown, Woods, Hicks, Hobson, Fisher, Hemmings, Porter, Eve, Carden, Beckett, Heggs (Finney). Not used: Doughty, Lancaster, Richardson, Keister.
United: Weaver, Pitts, Clark, Whitehead, Brightwell, Teale, Reid, McKinnon (Searle), Soley, Halliday, Durnin (Dobie). Not used: Keen, Bowman, Tracey.
Crowd: 5,507.
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