Last weekend was an extremely frustrating one as we were left kicking our heels without a game.

Having picked up just one point from a possible six against Eastbourne and Tamworth, we wanted to get back to winning ways as quickly as possible and the scheduled trip to Chester provided us with an ideal opportunity to do just that.

Unfortunately, events off the field at the Deva Stadium saw the game cancelledand we've now had nine games called off this season, which is far from ideal, and derby matches are great to be involved in from both the players' and the fans' point of view.That said it's desperately sad to see Chester in this situation.

It's only 12 miles or so between the two grounds and although the rivalry is deep-rooted and genuine, no-one would have wished this predicament on Chester City's players and supporters.

I honestly hope that the club can yet sort itself out and that maybe someone comes up with a rescue plan, even though it's not looking very promising at the moment.

The postponement meant we lost a bit more ground in the race to try and make the end of season play-offs.And, with a maximum of 18 games left now in the regular season, we know that wins are more important than ever now.

If we do that quickly enough, we'll soon be climbing the table again. There are 54 points to play for and if we can win at least 13 of our matches that should take us there or thereabouts.

The players have got to dig deep now and prepare for a rush of games. They can have a rest in the summer, but for the next two months they must dedicate themselves to football. Some of them won't need reminding that their future is up for grabs.

Our last home match with Tamworth certainly demonstrated just how important the likes of Frank Sinclair, Gareth Taylor and Christian Smith have become to the side over recent months.They're big players for us, both in terms of stature and in making us a physically, strong outfit who can overpower sides at this level.

We especially missed Gareth against Tamworth as they sat back against us, forcing us to hit long balls because we were not able to play through them.

We don't plan to hit long balls but we were being forced to play longer passes and when Gareth isn't playing it's very difficult to keep the ball in the box.

He does a job in there which no-one sees and he wins the ball back for us when he has no right to.That helps us get our quicker more exciting players on the ball and running at their goal.

Gareth's struggled with an ankle injury ever since the Wimbledon game.We hoped he'd be fit for the trip to Eastbourne but then he suffered a reaction in training the day before.He's had a bit more recovery time now and we'll make a decision on his fitness prior to kick-off.

Staying on the injury front, Marc Williams has been ruled out for the rest of the campaign after suffering a repeat fracture of his broken metatarsal.

It's a major disappointment because I had anticipated Marc and Gareth Taylor playing together and scoring goals for us in this league.

But Marc has not looked properly right and maybe that's because the bone was cracked all along, although there were no symptoms because of the pin that was put in there.

The lad has had a rough 12 months and he might be worried about his future, but we won't leave him in the lurch next season.We'll give him every opportunity to recover his full fitness and he can rest assured that we'll make sure he is okay before we sit down and talk.

Enjoy the game.

Dean