Chester’s away match against Southport in the NW Federation mid-week handicap league on Wednesday, 7 July, was not one of the club’s more successful achievements – a 6 – 1 win by Southport. The Chester team of David Boyd (captain), David Guyton, Paul Watson and Nigel Worthington found themselves facing some high handicap players from Southport who made consistently good use of their abundant bisques, free shots at critical times. In some previous more successful matches it has been suggested that Chester has some bandit players amongst its ranks with unduly high handicaps and bisques. This result suggests a contrary perspective. Merely a coincidence, of course, but the one game won by Chester was by Chester’s highest handicap player.
Apart from the disappointing result, the Chester team received a characteristically warm welcome at Southport. And the mild, dry weather was certainly preferable to the heavy showers at Chester.