page_title: Sealand Road
section_title: Notable matches
hierarchical_section_title: Sealand Road / Notable matches
caption_attribution_description: English: Sealand Road, Chester
context_page_description: Sealand Road was the home stadium of Chester City Football Club from 1906 until 1990. Although officially known simply as The Stadium, it was more commonly referred to as Sealand Road. It was much-loved by supporters of Chester, who followed their team there for 84 years, and after its closure spent an hour making the journey across Cheshire to watch their team play games at Macclesfield Town's Moss Rose ground for two years before the completion of the Deva Stadium in 1992.
context_section_description: Although Chester have never played in the top two divisions of the English system, Sealand Road housed several prestigious games. The most memorable were in the 1974–75 season, when they reached the League Cup semi-finals. League champions Leeds United were beaten 3–0 at Sealand Road in round four, with Newcastle United losing a replay on the same ground in the quarter-finals. This led to Sealand Road being the venue for a League Cup semi-final on 15 January 1975, when Chester drew 2–2 with Aston Villa in the first-leg in front of 19,000.
  The record attendance at Sealand Road was set in an FA Cup third round replay tie against Chelsea on 16 January 1952. Watched by 20,378, Chelsea won 3–2 in extra-time.
  The first Football League match at The Stadium saw Chester thrash Wigan Borough 4–0 on 29 August 1931, with Frank Cresswell scoring the first goal. Unfortunately the result was later deleted from the records as Borough resigned from the league in October, meaning the first result to stand is a 3–1 win over Halifax Town the following month.
  The final Football League match was a 2–0 home win over Rotherham United on 28 April 1990, with Graham Abel scoring the final goal in front of 3,827. One of Rotherham's players that afternoon was Bobby Williamson, who later became Chester's manager. On 3 May 1990 Chester Reserves drew 3–3 with Tranmere Rovers in The Midland Senior League in The Stadium's final ever game.
  The Stadium hosted Welsh Cup finals, including when Chester beat Wrexham in 1933, and was also often used for local cup finals and minor internationals. In 1935, The Stadium famously staged an England amateur trial match involving two referees – an experiment that was largely not considered to be a success.
  Chester's record Football League victory was registered at Sealand Road in February 1936, when Chester hammered York City 12–0.
  The Stadium was the venue for the Football League debut of a 17-year-old Ian Rush, when Chester drew 2–2 with Sheffield Wednesday in April 1979.
  During its final four seasons, Sealand Road continuously hosted Third Division football, which meant that Chester enjoyed league action against a number of traditionally bigger clubs who were more familiar with the First and Second Division. Big name opposition to visit Sealand Road included Middlesbrough, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sunderland, Sheffield United and Birmingham City.
caption: Sealand Road during a match in 1981.
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