The 1966/67 season, with new manager Ron Gray now in charge saw only City’s third victory at Sealand Road in 16 attempts and like the previous two had a 1-0 scoreline with ex-player-coach Roy Chapman the scorer. One of only two away wins in the season, it moved City off the foot of the table, but by the end of the season they were back there again while Chester themselves were glad to finish three points clear of the re-election zone.
Under the management of Ron Gray better times now began for City, but a setback came midway through the 1967/68 season with a 6-0 defeat which was to become City’s largest-ever losing margin at Sealand Road. Lincoln went on to finish mid-table but it was Chester’s turn for another re-election application.
By the time of City’s next visit to Sealand Road in December 1968, for the only FA Cup tie they played there, the ground had been improved with the covering of the Popular Side. A typical headed goal from big striker Norman Corner was the equaliser which brought Chester back to Sincil Bank for an eventful replay win by the Imps. Although City were in fourth place in the league at that time, they fell away to a disappointing final position of eighth, ending the season back at Sealand Road for a 2-0 defeat.
1969/70 brought City’s biggest win on the ground to date although by only 2-1 in a game between two mid-table sides. Rod Fletcher’s 15th goal of the season was added to by one by Trevor Meath. The powerful midfielder’s bad injury two games later put an end to any hopes of a promotion challenge as City once again finished eighth. With Ron Gray paying the price for this, City were managed by former trainer Bert Loxley by the beginning of the following September and a 1-0 win for the home side put them fifth in the early season league table with City in the bottom half. Although Lincoln improved for a time, a poor second half of the season saw another bottom four finish under new manager David Herd while Chester spent most of the season in fifth place and eventually missed promotion by one point.
It was City’s turn to miss promotion by a point in the 1971/72 season as Chester slumped to the other end of the table, this time just avoiding a re-election plea. The game at Sealand Road towards the end of March 1972 saw Dixie McNeil score in a 2-1 defeat for City that came in between two 1-0 victories that briefly saw City in second place before a poor end of season run. This was followed by a poor start to the 1972/73 season but an unbeaten run of 10 games had put City in third place by mid-October until another 2-1 defeat at Sealand Road saw them change places with Chester in fifth. I paid my first visit to the ground for this match and saw Percy Freeman’s second half strike the only reply to an early two-goal lead by the home side.
A poor second half to the season saw Chester finish in the lower half of the table with City five places above them. Graham Taylor had now taken over as manager from David Herd who had paid the price for a run of only one win in nine games after the defeat at Chester.
I was back at Sealand Road just under a year later in September 1973 to see City score three goals at the venue for the first time since 1936 as on a rainy and windy afternoon goals from Dave Smith, Colin Symm and Ian Branfoot gave City a 3-1 lead within the first 25 minutes of the game before the home side pulled a goal back in the second half. The win saw the Imps replace Chester in eighth place in the league table but after rising to fourth by the end of January they slipped to finish mid-table again
Chester had stuck by manager Ken Roberts for six years of ups and downs in league placings and it paid off for them in 1974/75 when they won promotion for the first time in their history – unfortunately at the expense of the Imps. From the beginning of November the two clubs had battled it out for the fourth promotion slot and their meeting at Sealand Road in the middle of March produced an unfortunately heavy defeat for City as Peter Graham’s first half equaliser was replied to by three more goals from the home side as the fourth-placed Imps changed places with Chester – a situation that was to be repeated after the final game of the season which saw the Cheshire side gain promotion by the merest fraction on goal average.
However, City immediately made up in style for missing promotion that season and the two clubs soon met again in the Third Division in 1976/77. Unfortunately, it was another defeat for the Imps at Sealand Road with only 1,964 bothering to turn up for an end of season match. The Imps gave some first team experience to youngsters Jimmy Gordon, Brendan Guest, Dean Crombie and Glenn Cockerill as the home side won 1-0, both sides finishing around mid-table.
Earlier in the 1976/77 season Chester had appointed former Manchester City star Alan Oakes as manager in succession to Ken Roberts, and by the time of their next visit to Sealand Road on New Year’s Eve 1977 Lincoln had themselves changed manager twice. With Graham Taylor departed to Watford his former assistant George Kerr had lasted about six months in the job before being succeeded by former Birmingham City boss Willie Bell. Taking over a side in the relegation zone the game at Chester was his third in the hot seat and produced the third in a series of five draws. The 2-2 scoreline with a first goal for the club by 18-year-old centre forward Mick Harford and one from Phil Neale lifted City one place to 21st. Mid-table at the time Chester rose to an excellent fifth place at the end of the season, with City, after a poor first half to the season glad to finish in mid-table. After doing a creditable job to achieve this placing manager Willie Bell then seemed to ‘lose it’ in the close season and a run of three draws and ten defeats from thirteen games saw his departure from the club less than three months into the new season.
Bell’s successor Colin Murphy was faced with an impossible job and the game at Sealand Road at the beginning of March 1979 saw City rooted to the foot of the table. The previous game had been lost 6-0 at Swindon and another five goals were conceded at Chester despite the Imps leading through an all-too-rare strike from David Sunley until the last 20 minutes, four goals from the home side then coming in the space of seven minutes.
Some much-needed updating of the ground took place in 1979 when the wooden main stand dating from 1931 was replaced by a new structure costing over £550,000, the cost of which was later rumoured to have been subsidised by the sale of Ian Rush to Liverpool at the end of the 1979/80 season.
Towering over the rest of the ground, the 2,874 seats in the stand raised the ground capacity to 20,000. Although providing improved viewing facilities it was criticised for lack of atmosphere partly due to the fact it had been constructed directly behind the old stand which was then demolished leaving a 10-yard space between the new stand and the pitch.
Really enjoyed this article Gary. All football ground histories/photos/stats floats my particular boat. More please!
Very good nice to see some old pictures of seal and rd
It’s been pointed out to me that although the goal in City’s first ever game at Sealand Road in 1931 was originally credited to Allan Hall it’s since emerged that it was actually scored by George Whyte.
Brillant stuff, fascinating article about my adopted home club, I never realised Chester’s first two grounds were both within half a mile of where I now live. Faulkner Street is often described as Chester’s Notting Hill and it might now be very different to the present day ‘hipster central’ if the football club had remained.
I made 2 visits to Sealand Road, both in Div 3 – the late season 1-0 loss in 76-77 was notable for the number of Div 1 managers and scouts in the very thin crowd, Tony Book was sat behind me. Not sure if a teenage Ian Rush was playing, certainly they were viewing a Chester player and not one of the Imps despite the youngsters being given an outing. That main stand was an odd thing.
Then in the late 2-1 win in 1982 which sustained the promotion push which finally foundered at Fulham, a squeaky win against a poor, young relegated Chester side but the result was the thing, half the crowd must have been Imps supporters on the open terrace behind the goal.
The attendances at both those games highlighted the problem Chester have always had, kids are brought up supporting Merseyside or Manchester clubs, not their home club.
Thanks.
Ian Rush would only have been 15 at the time of that 1976/77 match – he didn’t make his first team debut until the end of 1978. Maybe Tony Book was there just to see his old pal Alan Oakes!