From Winwick Athletic to Carling Cup glory with Manchester United (From Warrington Guardian)

From Winwick Athletic to Carling Cup glory with Manchester United

3:00pm Thursday 22nd January 2009

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MAKING your debut for one of the world’s greatest teams is every schoolboy’s dream.

To achieve that and help the team reach a major final at Wembley in the process is beyond all expectations.

That is how this week panned out for Warrington professional footballer James Chester.

The centre half from Birchwood, who is captain of Manchester United’s reserves, was on the substitute’s bench when United went to the top of the Premier League thanks to a 1-0 win against Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium on Saturday.

His services were not called on that day, but he did not have long to wait.

Sir Alex Ferguson described the former Winwick Athletic junior as ‘a capable young player’ as he drafted the 20-year-old into Saturday’s squad as cover for injury doubt Jonny Evans, with Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra already sidelined.

And the Premier League’s most successful manager had no hesitations in keeping Chester on the bench for Tuesday’s Carling Cup semi-final second leg against Derby County.

Sixty-seven minutes into the tie, with United leading 3-0 (3-1 on aggregate), Ferguson gave Chester the nod for a night he will never forget.

He replaced Gary Neville, stepping into the heart of United’s defence alongside Evans, Darren Fletcher and John O'Shea in front of 73,374 fans at Old Trafford.

Chester was not at fault for either of the two late goals leaked by United en route to the final 4-2 result and played his part in sealing United’s first appearance in a Carling Cup Final at the new Wembley.

With Ferguson aiming to select his young stars in the final, Chester could be set to take his career to an even higher level at the national stadium on March 1.

Chester, who has squad number 39 for the current first-team campaign, is in his second season of being a regular for United’s reserve team and became the first Warringtonian to play football at The Halliwell Jones Stadium when he came off the bench against Liverpool last season.

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