BLAINE HUDSON hopes he can play a part against his former club in Saturday’s cross-border derby. 

The 24-year-old centre-half spent nearly two years at Wrexham before joining Chester and is aiming to be part of Blues boss Jon McCarthy’s plans for this weekend’s big match. 

“The derby is always a good game to play in. The fans obviously love and hate the occasion depending on the outcome,” Hudson said. 

“The derby atmosphere definitely puts a bit of a spark into the game and that’s always been the case. 

“Recently that has gone a little bit and I’m not sure what that is down to, but the first couple of derby games I played in there was definitely always a bit of spark and a bit of bite. 

“We’re going to just keep our heads down and be ready for Saturday as if it was any other game. 

“I don’t think the match needs blowing up and I don’t think it needs talking about too much. We’ll just look forward to Saturday.” 

Hudson was an unused substitute in Chester’s 1-0 home victory against Braintree Town last weekend, although he didn’t feature, the defender was delighted to see his club extend their unbeaten run to three games. 

He continued: “It should have been a joy to watch the lads from the sidelines on Saturday, but I never find it nice to watch any match. 

“It’s never the best to have to watch any game, but it’s all about results and we’ve now had three good results in a row leading into what is a massive game for the club this weekend. 

“So we’ve got to build a little run no matter who we face. We’ve got to just continue to do what we’re doing. 

“Even to win 1-0 against Braintree on Saturday and see the game out I didn’t think we ever looked like conceding a goal and that was the same last Tuesday in our 2-0 home win against Guiseley. 

“I know the Wrexham game is upper most in our minds now, but we’ve just got to keep concentrating on what we are doing, keep getting better, keep growing as a team, picking up results, and try and do something this season.” 

Hudson made 34 league appearances for Wrexham last season but was not offered a new contract by the Reds and joined Chester in June. 

He had joined Wrexham in the summer of 2014 from Cambridge United having spent the previous season on loan at Welling. 

The centre-back started Chester’s first eight league games this season, but has been named as a substitute in the Blues last two fixtures while Ryan Astles and Sam Hughes have partnered one another in the heart of defence. 

He said: “I think the difference this season has been all about timing. When a club signs a few new players and they have got a new manager and everybody is at different levels of fitness in pre-season and lads are coming in and out with different levels of performance, they start to get closer as a group and people start to believe in what we are doing and they are starting to get on the manager’s side. 

“I think we have started to grow as a team and I can only see us going one way at the minute and that’s continuing to get better. 

“We are starting to realise our strengths and weaknesses and what we can do best. We are in good form now and we are all looking forward to our next game.” 

n Chester FC Youth won 6-0 at Morecambe on Sunday in their latest North West Youth Alliance League match thanks to a hat-trick from Conor Rowbottom, two goals from Nathan Brown and other marksman Ilan Ap-Gareth.