The Blues are up and running.
Goals from Ma’kel Campbell and a late Billy Waters winner secured the three precious points for Chester on the opening day at Chorley as the Phil Parkinson era got off to a flying start.
The summer churn of players meant that the team that took to the pitch at Victory Park barely resembled the one that finished the campaign with a defeat in the National League North play-offs at Macclesfield back at the end of April.
Only Declan Weeks, Tom Peers, Nathan Woodthorpe and Connor Woods remained from that loss, with Parkinson having brought about wholesale changes on the playing side. There were no fewer than seven debutants from the starting line-up, with a further four from the bench, including academy graduate Connor Murphy.
Just as we wouldn’t be leaping to conclusions about what we might expect from this Chester side had they have lost in the Lancashire sunshine, we shouldn’t be doing the same thing on the back of a maiden victory. But there were some encouraging signs, and some interesting bits of note as the Blues delivered in front of the vocal backing of 800 away fans who headed home with the sweet contentment that only three points can bring.
