Lloyd extends The Blues unbeaten run

Ryan Lloyd’s first half strike helped Chester extend their unbeaten run to seven matches as they beat Torquay United 1-0.

Chester may now only be four points behind the play off places but due to other results in the National League, the hosts have slipped one place in the league to 11th. Devonian side Torquay also slip down to 18th in the table and have not won a league game on the road since the end of August.

Chester’s impressive form has been highlighted by the fact that they have not conceded a goal in the league since the third of September.

The hosts got their goal midway through the first half; some great build up play by Oluwaseun Akintunde and Craig Mahon came to a grinding halt when Mahon was bought down in the penalty area by Joe Ward.

A worrying sign for the home supporters when immediately after the penalty was awarded; teammates James Alabi and Elliott Durrell were involved in a physical confrontation over who should take the spot kick. Captain Luke George elected current top scorer Durrell for the task only to find his spot kick saved by travelling goalkeeper Brendan Moore.

Fortunately for the Cheshire based side, the save fell straight to the feet of on loan midfielder Ryan Lloyd who calmly tucked away the rebound for his second league goal of the season.

Despite his saved penalty effort, Durrell was very much a key player for the hosts particularly throughout the first half and almost scored a free kick in the opening moments of the match but keeper Moore was able to tip the free kick away.

Torquay’s best effort of the first half came from on loan forward Jamie Reid. His header from Lathaniel Rowe-Turner’s cross forced a good save from Liam Roberts in the Chester goal.

Torquay’s problems of recent years clearly showed no major signs of improvement as the West Country side were only able to name 14 players in their match day squad with player-manager Kevin Nicholson starting amongst the substitutes before bringing himself on just before the 80 minute mark.

The visitors main chances came via Nathan Blissett and the Torquay striker almost managed to level the game after his header from a Nicholson long throw whistled just over the cross bar.

The result ends Torquay’s recent run of good results following their win over second placed side Dagenham and Redbridge in midweek.