Soccer Darlington v Chester: Fans' coach comes to the rescue after team bus breaks down on M62
Chester's players had a day to remember - and forget - in Saturday's National League North game at Darlington.
On the pitch, it did not go too well as the Seals were 3-0 down at half-time, had six booked and one sent off as their four-game winning league run came to an end.
But it was hardly a surprise after such an eventful motorway journey to the north-east.
The Chester team bus suffered a tyre blowout just past Birch Services on the M62 but the fans' coach was travelling behind them - and the supporters came to the rescue.
The players got off the team bus, boarded the coach with the fans - and were then transported 24 miles on to the next services at Hartshead Moor, while the team bus driver waited behind to attend to the puncture.
Just to put everybody’s mind at rest the @ChesterFC coach has not broken down the tyre blew out which I thought safer to pull over and wait for a replacement tyre than drive and risk injury or worse to the staff and players , banter is fine but surely lives are more important
— John Carroll (@cagger75) November 11, 2023
The team bus, duly repaired, then reappeared to cart the players the remaining 82 miles to Blackwell Meadow, Darlington.
Having arrived in time for the scheduled 15:00 GMT kick-off, Callum McIntyre's side were then caught cold by strugglers Darlo in a nightmare first half.
But they made up for it with a second-half revival, including 10 minutes of added time, in which Chester nearly grabbed a draw.
And they hope they will be fully back on track when they make the same journey up the M62 for their next game this Tuesday night - the FA Cup first round replay with York City, after drawing 0-0 at the Deva Stadium a week ago.
