# 1953–54 Chester F.C. season

The 1953–54 season was the 16th season of competitive association football in the Football League played by Chester, an English club based in Chester, Cheshire.
It was the club's 16th consecutive season in the Third Division North since the election to the Football League. Alongside competing in the league, the club also participated in the FA Cup and the Welsh Cup.

## Football League

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 20 | Workington | 46 | 13 | 14 | 19 | 59 | 80 | 0.738 | 40 | |
| 21 | Darlington | 46 | 12 | 14 | 20 | 50 | 71 | 0.704 | 38 | |
| 22 | York City | 46 | 12 | 13 | 21 | 64 | 86 | 0.744 | 37 | |
| 23 | Halifax Town | 46 | 12 | 10 | 24 | 44 | 73 | 0.603 | 34 | Re-elected |
| 24 | Chester | 46 | 11 | 10 | 25 | 48 | 67 | 0.716 | 32 | Re-elected |

### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
| Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| 46 | 11 | 10 | 25 | 48 | 67 | 0.716 | 32 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 39 | 22 | 27 | 1 | 3 | 19 | 9 | 45 | 5 |
Source: rsssf.com

### Results by matchday

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 |
| Result | D | D | L | L | W | L | L | D | W | L | W | L | W | L | W | L | L | D | L | D | L | W | L | L | L | L | W | L | L | D | L | W | L | D | L | D | L | L | W | D | W | L | D | W | L | L |
| Position | 14 | 14 | 18 | 21 | 18 | 17 | 21 | 21 | 19 | 20 | 16 | 19 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 18 | 21 | 19 | 20 | 19 | 20 | 19 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 21 | 24 | 22 | 24 | 23 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 |

### Matches

| Date | Opponents | Venue | Result | Score | Scorers | Attendance |
| 22 August | Hartlepools United | H | D | 1–1 | Windle | 6,695 |
| 26 August | Barnsley | H | D | 1–1 | Windle | 7,117 |
| 29 August | Gateshead | A | L | 1–2 | Travis | 8,013 |
| 2 September | Barnsley | A | L | 0–3 | | 9,969 |
| 5 September | Workington | H | W | 3–0 | Coffin (2pens.), Pye | 5,790 |
| 9 September | Darlington | A | L | 0–1 | | 4,875 |
| 12 September | Scunthorpe & Lindsey United | A | L | 0–1 | | 10,234 |
| 16 September | Darlington | H | D | 2–2 | Thomas, Travis | 3,999 |
| 19 September | York City | H | W | 3–1 | Travis, Smith, Windle | 5,571 |
| 23 September | Bradford Park Avenue | H | L | 2–3 | Coffin (2, 1pen.) | 4,906 |
| 26 September | Southport | A | W | 1–0 | Pye | 5,770 |
| 30 September | Bradford Park Avenue | A | L | 0–5 | | 5,333 |
| 3 October | Wrexham | H | W | 2–1 | Thomas, Travis | 14,627 |
| 10 October | Barrow | A | L | 1–2 | Thomas | 6,258 |
| 17 October | Bradford City | H | W | 3–0 | Thomas, Coffin (pen.), Travis | 6,150 |
| 24 October | Chesterfield | A | L | 0–4 | | 8,229 |
| 31 October | Tranmere Rovers | H | L | 1–2 | Hilton | 6,824 |
| 7 November | Halifax Town | A | L | 1–1 | Windle | 3,297 |
| 14 November | Carlisle United | H | L | 0–1 | | 5,104 |
| 28 November | Grimsby Town | H | D | 1–1 | Molyneux | 5,327 |
| 5 December | Stockport County | A | L | 0–5 | | 8,252 |
| 12 December | Rochdale | H | W | 2–0 | Thomas, Travis | 3,578 |
| 19 December | Hartlepools United | A | L | 0–2 | | 5,481 |
| 25 December | Port Vale | A | L | 0–1 | | 15,322 |
| 26 December | Port Vale | H | L | 0–1 | | 10,979 |
| 28 December | Rochdale | A | L | 0–4 | | 7,226 |
| 2 January | Gateshead | H | W | 5–0 | Travis (3), Rolfe, Morrey | 4,197 |
| 9 January | Mansfield Town | A | L | 1–2 | Morrey | 6,572 |
| 16 January | Workington | A | L | 0–2 | | 7,212 |
| 23 January | Scunthorpe & Lindsey United | H | D | 0–0 | | 5,180 |
| 6 February | York City | A | L | 1–2 | Morrey (pen.) | 3,960 |
| 13 February | Southport | H | W | 1–0 | Morrey | 4,802 |
| 20 February | Wrexham | A | L | 1–2 | Basford | 10,225 |
| 27 February | Barrow | H | D | 1–1 | Hilton | 3,023 |
| 6 March | Bradford City | A | L | 0–1 | | 10,971 |
| 13 March | Chesterfield | H | D | 2–2 | Hilton, Lee | 4,404 |
| 20 March | Tranmere Rovers | A | L | 1–2 | Coffin | 6,773 |
| 24 March | Mansfield Town | H | L | 0–2 | | 1,667 |
| 27 March | Halifax Town | H | W | 3–1 | Morrey, Travis, Windle | 3,207 |
| 3 April | Carlisle United | A | D | 1–1 | Travis | 2,329 |
| 10 April | Accrington Stanley | H | W | 3–0 | Rolfe (2), Windle | 4,031 |
| 16 April | Crewe Alexandra | A | L | 0–1 | | 6,287 |
| 17 April | Grimsby Town | A | D | 0–0 | | 7,330 |
| 19 April | Crewe Alexandra | H | W | 2–0 | Betteridge, Travis | 5,846 |
| 24 April | Stockport County | H | L | 1–2 | Coffin | 3,545 |
| 28 April | Accrington Stanley | A | L | 0–1 | | 4,687 |

## FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponents | Venue | Result | Score | Scorers | Attendance |
| First round | 21 November | Stockport County (3N) | A | L | 2–4 | Molyneux, Windle | 12,363 |

## Welsh Cup

| Round | Date | Opponents | Venue | Result | Score | Scorers | Attendance |
| Fifth round | 13 January | Brymbo Steelworks | H | W | 6–1 | Rolfe, Morrey (pen.), Morris, Smith, Travis | 766 |
| Quarterfinal | 3 March | Wrexham (3N) | H | W | 1–0 | Travis | 2,133 |
| Semifinal | 17 March | Newport County (3S) | N | D | 2–2 | Travis (2) | 7,920 |
| Semifinal replay | 5 April | Newport County (3S) | N | W | 2–0 | Basford, Hilton | 3,000 |
| Final | 21 April | Flint Town United (WLN) | N | L | 0–2 | | 15,584 |

## Season statistics

| Nat | Player | Total | Total | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | Welsh Cup | Welsh Cup |
| Nat | Player | A | G | A | G | A | G | A | G |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||
| | Bobby Jones | 52 | – | 46 | – | 1 | – | 5 | – |
| Field players ||||||||||
| | Tommy Astbury | 19 | – | 16 | – | 1 | – | 2 | – |
| | Jack Basford | 13 | 2 | 10 | 1 | – | – | 3 | 1 |
| | Mick Betteridge | 9 | 1 | 8 | 1 | – | – | 1 | – |
| | Ken Brandon | 1 | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – |
| | Norman Bullock | 1 | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – |
| | Geoff Coffin | 22 | 7 | 21 | 7 | – | – | 1 | – |
| | Ken Fletcher | 19 | 1 | 16 | – | – | – | 3 | 1 |
| | Ray Gill | 52 | – | 46 | – | 1 | – | 5 | – |
| | Joe Hilton | 24 | 4 | 20 | 3 | 1 | – | 3 | 1 |
| | Ron Hughes | 45 | – | 39 | – | 1 | – | 5 | – |
| | Eric Lee | 51 | 1 | 46 | 1 | 1 | – | 4 | – |
| | John Molyneux | 18 | 2 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | – |
| | Bernard Morrey | 20 | 6 | 17 | 5 | – | – | 3 | 1 |
| | Sam Morris | 12 | 1 | 11 | – | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| | Billy Pye | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| | Jimmy Rolfe | 20 | 4 | 17 | 3 | – | – | 3 | 1 |
| | Harry Smith | 11 | 2 | 10 | 1 | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| | Fred Sutcliffe | 32 | – | 28 | – | – | – | 4 | – |
| | Johnny Thomas | 32 | 5 | 29 | 5 | 1 | – | 2 | – |
| | Don Travis | 48 | 16 | 43 | 12 | 1 | – | 4 | 4 |
| | Phil Whitlock | 24 | – | 23 | – | 1 | – | – | – |
| | Bobby Williams | 3 | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | – |
| | Billy Windle | 39 | 7 | 35 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | – |
| | Own goals | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| | Total | 52 | 61 | 46 | 48 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 11 |