Chester City 1 Darlington 2

HAVING said farewell to the Football League with a defeat to Darlington, it was with either delicious irony or a deeply misguided tribute that saw Chester City trudge off the field to the strains of the classic David Bowie song Heroes.

Darlington won 2-1 with Pawel Abbott scoring twice, the winner coming deep in injury time after a spectacular Ian Miller own goal had looked like handing Chester and undeserved draw.

Heroes? Relegated from the Football League despite three other teams all starting the season with points deductions of at least 17 points, and they’re labelled as heroes?

That the Deva Stadium DJ also selected U2’s Elevation and the ear-punishing Rick Astley number Never Gonna Give You Up, twice, suggests he really did believe it an appropriate manner in which to serenade non-league-bound Chester.

During troubled times Quakers players have shown admirable determination so their fans gave them a heroes send off after they closed the curtain on a traumatic season in fitting style on Saturday.

Although a late goal was required, Darlington fully merited a win that sees them finish 12th, though it would have been a play-off spot were it not for administration.

They created the vast majority of the chances and gave a large contingent of travelling fans plenty to shout about.

Assistant manager Martin Gray was in charge for the day, following Dave Penney’s switch to Oldham last week, and he was delighted to sign off with a win.

After ten years as a player and then coach, Gray will join Penney at Boundary Park and he was happy to leave on a high.

He said: “For the fans, for the staff behind the scenes that work so hard and for Dave Penney, to finish the season with a win is fantastic.

“I spoke to Dave on the phone as we travelled this morning and he said ‘make sure you win that game’.

“Winning means we can say we would have finished in the play-offs had we not had ten points taken off.

“The way it has ended, having done ten years at the club, it could not have been any better so I wanted a win and it was important that we won for the people of Darlington after the support they have given us since we went into administration.

“There’s been problems off the field, but the fans have stood by us and that’s all you can ask for.”

Despite the game having little bearing on the table, Quakers supporters made up a quarter of the 1,945 attendance but they made all of the noise as they said farewell to their heroes.

Because, unless a buyer is allowed to take over quickly, it is inevitable that the bulk of the squad will head for pastures new.

There will be no shortage of takers and Abbott, despite two injury-ravaged years, will be among those most in demand.

Just as Penney’s two promotions in two years with Doncaster looked good on his CV, so do Abbott’s 26 for Huddersfield during 2004/05 in League One.

As does scoring regularly, when not injured, since signing in 2007 with Saturday’s double taking his tally to 17 in 42 league matches in Quakers colours.

The first, on 71 minutes, came from an indirect freekick on Chester’s six-yard line, awarded after keeper James Spencer handled a miss-placed backpass.

Ricky Ravenhill rolled the ball to the Pole who found a gap among the 11 Chester players between him and goalline, sparking an unusual premeditated celebration.

But less said about the kind of rolling around on the floor usually seen in nursery schools the better.

“I don’t have a clue what all that was about!” said Gray.

“Pav is probably the best striker in this division. You give him a chance and he will score, that’s for sure. He had three chances today and scored two.

“It’s not easy to score when there’s 11 players on the goal-line, you’ve either got to put it high into the net or place it right in the corner. But Pav is a class act.”

His winner came in injury time, lashed high into the net from an angle after good work by substitutes Curtis Main and Danny Groves.

Only seconds earlier Chester had thought they were going to finish with a draw thanks to Miller’s own goal.

Anthony Barry’s cross was cut out at the near post but he accidentally powered into his own net however, soon Abbott spared his blushes.

At full-time Gray led the entire squad, including those who had travelled despite unable to play, to the supporters and the players were keen to show their appreciation too with one or two shirts being hurled into the crowd.

It led one to imagine what the scenes might have been had former chairman George Houghton not put the club into administration.

His name was central to supporters’ derogatory chants on Saturday, while backing for potential buyer Raj Singh was clear.

It was all a far cry the final day of last season, at Peterborough a week before the play-offs started, when Houghton basked in the adulation of the Darlington supporters.

Nobody knew what was to come less than a year later.

Matchfacts

Goals: 0-1: Abbott (71mins, blasted home from a close-range free-kick) 1-1: Miller og (89mins, Inadvertently headed into his net at the near post when trying to cut out Barry’s right-wing cross) 1-2: Abbott (90mins, Latched on to Main’s ball and lashed high into to the net from an angle)
Bookings: Kelly (41mins, foul)
Referee: Mick Russell (Hertfordshire) – Avoided any controversy 7
Attendance: 1,945
Entertainment: ✰✰✰

CHESTER CITY (5-3-2): Spencer 4; Barry 6, Rule 4, Roberts 5, Kelly 6 (Platt 78), WILSON 7; Owen 6, Harris 5, Mannix 4 (Jones 60, 5); Lowe 6, Ellams 6. Subs (not used): Partridge, Rutherford, Smith

DARLINGTON (4-4-1-1):
6 Kazimierczak: Superbly tipped over a second half free-kick but could do little about Miller’s own goal
7 Valentine: Little got past him on a day he was singled out by home fans due to his Wrexham roots
7 Austin: Proved to be a good centre-back as replacement for the suspended White
7 Miller: You won’t see many more spectacular own goals than Miller’s peach
7 Purdie: The player of the season was only subbed to give Fortune a game
6 Burgmeier: Responsible for a free-kick that Abbott should have scored from
7 Kennedy: Has made a big impact in the closing weeks of the season
8 Ravenhill: Showed just why he was always one of Penney’s favourites with a determined display
6 Griffin: Provided plenty of width and unfortunate not to score in the first half
6 Poole: Provided Abbott with plenty of support
8 ABBOTT: Somehow found the net for the first goal, gave the keeper no chance for his second

Subs:
Main (for Poole, 58mins): Showed some nice touches and set Abbott up for the winner 6
Fortune (for Purdie, 68mins): A rare outing for a defender expecting to join a League One club 5
Groves (for Kennedy, 77mins) (not used): Liversedge, Hulbert

MAN OF THE MATCH
 PAWEL Abbott – His matchwinning double made it eight goals for the season – but will they be his last in a Darlington shirt?