CHESTER TARGET BIG JOHN HARTSON
Dennis Wall - Flintshire Standard

WELSH international striker John Hartson was today being linked with a loan move to Chester City.

Blues chairman, Stephen Vaughan, confirmed that the club had been in touch with Hartson's club, West Bromwich Albion.

Vaughan is keen to secure the services of Hartson before this Thursday's loan transfer deadline.

Hartson, 32, has struggled to command a regular place in the West Brom starting line-up which alerted both Vaughan and City boss Bobby Williamson to make an enquiry for the player.

As yet West Brom haven't yet responded to Chester's enquiry for Hartson who has returned to The Hawthorns after a loan spell at Norwich City.

Meanwhile, John Murphy today revealed he only has one thing in mind when Chester face Wrexham in Sunday's derby at The Racecourse.

The Chester City targetman is determined to make an impact in the first cross-border derby of the season against a Wrexham side managed by newly-appointed Brian Little.

Murphy said: "Our games don't come much bigger than Sunday's at Wrexham.

"I've scored a few goals at The Racecourse against Wrexham in the past. I did well for Blackpool at Wrexham, and a goal or two on Sunday for Chester would be nice.

"We're no doubt facing a long and hard week of training sessions before facing a match that will be Brian Little's first game in charge at Wrexham.

"I'm sure they'll be up for it, but it's a derby and anything can happen, and we'll be going there with confidence on the back of our good second half performance against MK Dons on Saturday.

"We're just going to keep on battling for points. We're still near the top of the table so we'll be going to Wrexham and hopefully getting something out of the game."

Murphy admits that Chester have a number of attacking options for the Wrexham match.

The forward, who started his career at the Blues, admitted he has struggled to forge a partnership in the front line so far this season, and added: "I've had a few partners in attack this season, but the decision on who is selected is down to the manager.

"I've been struggling to gel because some players have been in the side one week and out the next.

"But I'm just pleased that I'm been giving a run in the side at the moment and I'll be trying to forge a partnership with whoever I play alongside."

Murphy admitted Chester had been punished at the weekend in their 2-0 home defeat against league leaders Milton Keynes Dons after the Blues had failed to take their chances.

He added: "It just goes to show what can happen if you don't put your chances away.

"They were very good in the first half, but I feel we gave them too much respect and they passed the ball through us to go 1-0 up.

"But in the second half I thought we started well and deserved to score and maybe go on to win, but it wasn't to be because we got punished for not taking our chances.

"I had a great chance to score, but their keeper made a number of great saves.

"I feel that Milton Keynes Dons have got a good squad of players and a good manager in Paul Ince, and he's obviously been backed by their chairman, so MK Dons are expected to be near the top of the league, and at the moment they are."

BELLAMY CLARION CALL HELPS WALES YOUNG GUNS TO SUBDUE FRANCE
Paul Walker - Independent

A pep talk by Craig Bellamy helped inspire Wales Under-21s to a stunning triumph over France in their Uefa Championship qualifier in Cardiff.

The injured senior captain, unable to be involved with John Toshack's squad in Germany last night, instead made a special trip to NinianPark on Tuesday night to support the Under-21 team before what was expecting to be a daunting Group 10 qualifier.

It certainly worked as the youngsters produced a stunning 4-2 triumph, by far their best victory since their first match at this level 32 years ago.

The main praise, however, went to the Under-21s manager, Brian Flynn, after his remarkable work at this level. And the former Wrexham and Swansea coach was perhaps the only Welshman who was not surprised by the victory over France.

He said: "This is what we have been working for. It did not surprise me. People forget what a really fine bunch of lads we have here. There was plenty of good individual performances, but it was a great all-round team display."

Wales beat the Netherlands twice and the French once back in the 80s and 90s when the likes of Ian Rush, Gary Speed and Mark Hughes were around.

But they have never beaten England or achieved anything on this scale and Toshack, from his Frankfurt hotel, was first on the phone to congratulate Flynn, whose unstinting work has produced a stream of players for the senior squad and a run of five Under-21 wins in seven games.

Wales have now lost only three of their last 14 games at this level and have a realistic chance of qualifying for the June 2009 finals in Sweden.

The French initially planned to appeal against the result because of a pre-match floodlight failure which saw the match played under just three pylons in Cardiff. But with the Uefa delegate having agreed that the match should go ahead, and the French happy to start the match, French federation officials eventually went home accepting the decision and result.

Ched Evans led the way with a hat-trick along with a Mark Bradley tap-in as the hosts rallied from 2-1 down with 10 minutes to go and the Rhyl-bornManchesterCity player admitted he was shocked by the nature of the victory.

The 18-year-old striker said: "If we continue to play like this then we have a very good chance of qualifying. It was a great match to be involved in, I enjoyed every minute. We were ahead early on but when the French got back to 2-1 up you start to feel that you are not going to be able to beat such a big nation. I did not really think we would come back but it shows how competitive we are. We never gave up.

"Maybe we could have thought that we would not get back at them, but this shows we have faith in ourselves and each other."

The Wales youngsters know they have a long way to go before they can start dreaming of Sweden. They are now third in Group 10 - two points behind the leaders, Romania, who they must now play twice - with a game in hand. Wales are also two points behind France with two games in hand.

Their next match is in Malta on 5 February, the day before the seniors play Norway in a friendly at Wrexham and with so many youngsters qualified for both teams, the selection of both squads will give Toshack and Flynn a few headaches.

Bosnia, who lost 2-1 in Malta on Tuesday night, are virtually out of contention, having also lost 4-0 to Wales on Saturday.

Wales travel to Bosnia on 26 March, also a scheduled week for a full international. Their final two games are a double-header against Romania, at home on 20 August and away on 10 September.

Even at that point, nobody qualifies automatically for Sweden. The 10 group winners and four best runners-up go into the hat for the play-offs next autumn, with each country playing a home and away tie. The seven winners then join hosts Sweden in June 2009 for the finals.