The Evo-Stik League leading marksman took his tally for the term up to 24 goals in 25 matches yesterday as Chester opened up an eight-point lead at the top of First Division North with a 6-0 home romp over Ossett Albion.

But when asked if he is running out of superlatives for his talisman, Blues boss Young said: "I'm certainly not!

A wretched run stretching back 24 league and cup games was ended yesterday as a hat-trick of headers from Bradley Barnes, Michael Wilde and Robbie Booth swept Young's table-toppers to a 3-1 victory over 10-man Wakefield.

With Chorley not in action, the result moved the Blues five points clear at the Evo-Stik League First Division North summit.

Boss Young said: "They'll say the sending-off changed the game, but you can only beat what is in front of you and overall I thought we played quite well.

"It was difficult as once they had the man sent-off they shut up shop and tried to stop us from playing and scoring, which you can understand. But we coped with it well.

"So I'm glad to put an end to the January curse. More importantly it puts us five points clear, although there's a long way to go yet."

Chester had failed to win any of their previous three matches at the Exacta Stadium, but there was never going to be a doubt over the final outcome after Denton was stupidly sent-off in the 12th minute for swinging a punch at George Horan.

However the Blues had to be patient and it was not until first-half injury-time that they took the lead as Bradley Barnes glanced in his eighth goal of the season from the recalled Kyle Wilson's cross.

Barnes and Iain Howard were excellent in midfield, but it was impressive new boy Ashley Williams who was named the sponsors man of the match on his first full start for the club following his move from Airbus UK Broughton.

Young said: "I thought Ashley was absolutely outstanding. His touch, his passing, his overall play was first class - he really dictated the game.

"He's someone we've took our time with as we've watched him on four or five occasions. I thought sometimes he played within himself at Airbus, but I thought today he showed us what he can bring."

Chester's number one limped off late on in yesterday's thrilling derby victory at Cammell Laird and, with Chris Oldfield having controversially departed to Darlington, Young is currently without a keeper for Tuesday's Evo-Stik League Challenge Cup clash at Newcastle Town (7.45pm).

Young, who has reported Darlington to the FA for making an alleged illegal approach for Oldfield, said: "People may have questioned why we are pursuing Darlington - but they will know why now.

"Goalkeeper is the hardest position to fill and, as we can only offer a second goalkeeper's position, we're not a massive draw. So what we've got to do is find a good young kid like Chris.

"Hopefully Richard will be fit for the weekend, but I've got to get a keeper on loan for at least a month, just to cover in case he's out for longer."

He said: "I'm not going over the top - this is my job and I'm not prepared to put my neck on the line for those sorts of performances.

"Ultimately the buck stops with me. I'll be the one getting criticised - rightly - because I put the team on the pitch, but if I'm going to take criticism I'm going to take criticism for the right reasons.

Neil Young said: "We were very clinical. Look at the first half - we had three or four chances and we took two of them. If that would have happened against Chorley it would have been a different game.

"Today we have taken our chances and I think if we continue to take our chances we will get stronger and teams will find it hard to live with us.

"All credit to the lads as they've bounced back. We could have had more in the end but 4-0 away from home is a very good result."

As a result, poor old Deva Fever's been on the backburner.

Not any more though... even the fact that it's not called the Deva Stadium any more isn't going to stop us!

I'll be adding updates and talking points at various points throughout the week.

Madowl has assured me he'll be on the case too - hopefully some of our exiles will get back as well.

Leave your thoughts on this below - entries will be considered for publication in the Chester Chronicle and on ChesterChronicle.co.uk

Chester City FC: Blues survive Football Conference axe

Chester City FC: On D-day for Chester City FC we send Stephen Vaughan an impassioned plea...

Chester City FC: City Fans United ready to act if the Blues are expelled from Football Conference today

Chester City FC: Blues fan and Chronicle reporter gives his view on the fallout of Saturday's abandoned game with Eastbourne Borough

City's increasingly solid course of improvement has continued with the home match against Bury, and it shows how far the club has come along in the past few weeks that the eventual score draw was viewed as something of a disappointment.

Especially when the first half had produced a performance worthy of a win. Mozika showed why a certain Championship club was taking interest in him when he deservedly bagged his first goal for City, with a well-aimed strike into the bottom corner of the net. Thankfully, the unnamed club's request to take the player on loan with a view to a transfer was soundly rejected, ensuring City will at least hang on to this star for a few months yet.

Unfortunately, Chester couldn't manage to hang on to their lead, as Bury player Andy Morrell theatrically tumbled to the ground in the City penalty area early in the second half. Despite the referee having a brilliant view of the situation, he still pointed to the penalty spot for what quite clearly seemed to be a dive. Or at the very least, this was the opinion of the vast majority of the City fans...

Several more 'debatable' judgements later, and City fans were pretty vexed, with manager Simon Davies later commenting the referee "spoiled" the game with "ludicrous" decisions.

The successful Bury spot-kick has meant Chester only earned a share of the spoils, but can at least take heart from a side looking visibly more confident and a world away from the messy start to the season. This is traditionally Chester's good form patch, where plenty of points are taken in the run-up to Christmas, so perhaps City can continue their form and grab something against Grimsby next time out.

IT'S been an increasingly anxious wait, but Chester City recorded their first points of the season on Saturday - and what a way to earn them!

For the minuscule, yet dedicated home crowd of little more than 1,200 Chester fans, the 5-1 trouncing against Barnet was just reward for witnessing several inadequate displays by the team, not only this season but also throughout most of last season.

I must confess, I was not one of those who made the journey to the Deva Stadium, as one of several who could not face spending £15 and 90 minutes on several frustrating, sometimes fruitless, Saturday afternoons, glaring at the squad and willing that ball to at least make it into the vicinity of the opposition's goalmouth.

So, taking the rather more cushy route of unwinding at home with a can of some alcoholic beverage, I put my feet up and watched all the action unfold on Soccer Saturday instead.

As a result, I nearly fell off my chair several times as I kept scrambling up to the television screen whenever a Chester goal flashed up. At half-time, the usually unflappable Jeff Stelling became slightly flustered as the videprinter stuttered, spluttered and ground to a halt. Rumours that it had crashed because it was unable to comprehend why Chester still had a clean sheet by this time are unfounded.

And with each goal that poured in for Chester (and seeing Jeff increasingly stress each City goal as it appeared on screen), I began to regret not paying my visit to the Deva Stadium. The same had occurred last season, when I'd left it too late to see them play Dagenham & Redbridge at home. Chester then, of course, went on to win 4-0 in my absence.

So, lesson learned and with fresh optimism, I shall be joining the small but defiant band of supporters who've kept the faith during the club's terrible start to the season, for the next home match against Bury. Whether the result was a flash in the pan or the start of sustained success is unknown, but surely the latter is the least the fans deserve.

Reasons to believe!

THERE are times when being a Chester City fan is a trying ordeal, not least when you've watched your side begin the new season on such a low.

With 11 goals conceded in the first two matches, including a shocking 6-0 defeat to Dagenham & Redbridge and a 5-2 Carling Cup defeat against a Leeds side that had the game wrapped up comfortably with 35 minutes on the clock, the new campaign could hardly have begun worse for the Blues.

Rumours of a half-time heated scuffle in the Chester dressing room at the Leeds game will not have done anything to improve the currently gloomy climate surrounding the Deva Stadium.

But there are still glimmers of hope. Faint glimmers, admittedly, but a couple of facts that may suggest all is not lost just yet.

Firstly, the second half of the Carling Cup game did see a much-improved City display, and technically they did 'win' that half 1-0, albeit against a Leeds side that had taken their foot off the gas. Nonetheless, spells of fluid passing in the midfield was an encouraging sign, and is a marked change from some of the route one tactics employed by previous managers.

Secondly, it isn't like these kind of results haven't happened before - City were thrashed 5-1 by Wolves in the first round of the Carling Cup in 2005, but few fans grumbled. Yes, Wolves were and are a Championship side when the Blues visited their ground, but so too would Leeds be now, had they not been deducted 15 points at the beginning of last season.

It's also worth remembering that City conceded six against Dagenham last season, yet in the return fixture that season Chester won 4-0. Form can easily turn around in this division.

Finally, there may be a useful boost to City's coffers, in addition to the Sky TV money from the Leeds match broadcast. Former Chester City striker and current Ipswich Town hotshot Jon Walters may be on his way to Stoke this month, for a fee rumoured to be in the region of £3m.

Should the move go ahead, Chester could find the sell-on clause they had negotiated when Walters moved on could pay off big time, with a cash injection of several hundred thousand pounds - more than enough to pay for a strengthened defence!

So with 45 league games to go in this season, an awful lot can still change. Things can only get better...