Chester offload two more players

Relegated Chester City have offloaded two more players as they prepare for life back in Conference football.

Neither winger Ritchie Partridge nor fellow midfielder Paul Rutherford are to have their contracts renewed.

They join midfielder Damien Mozika, owner's son James Vaughan and defender Laurence Wilson through the exit door.

But young defenders Glen Rule and Shaun Kelly have both been offered new deals, while Lloyd Ellams and James Owen have signed first year pro contracts.

City, still under threat from possibly going into administration, are in line to be helped by a parachute payment of £250,000 following their drop into the Blue Square Premier.

But, in an effort to reduce costs, owner Stephen Vaughan has said that they will listen to offers for three of their higher paid players, 18-goal top scorer Ryan Lowe, fellow attacker Kevin Ellison and skipper Paul Linwood.

Rule and Kelly have been two of City's brighter players over the dispiriting second half of the season.

Chester were relegated to the Conference for the first time in May 2000

Mark Wright led them back into the league as Conference champions in 2004

Owner Stephen Vaughan put the club up for sale in November

After two red cards in his first six appearances, 19-year-old Rule won rare praise from boss Mark Wright after settling down in City's back three. And 20-year-old Kelly also caught the eye, playing through a number of injuries, one of which (a knee ligament problem) had threatened to sideline him for the season.

The departure of 28-year-old Partridge is little surprise, the Dublin-born former Liverpool trainee having rarely shown anywhere near his best form during City's demise.

Liverpool-born left-back Wilson, 22, joined City from Everton in May 2006 and made 130 appearances for the club scoring eight goals.

Wirral-born Rutherford, 21, was even more of a peripheral figure in his time at the Deva, 41 of his 64 appearances in four seasons at the club having come off the bench.

French midfielder Mozika left before the end of the season, while full-back Vaughan is heading down under to play for an Australian club, NSW Premier League club, Woolongong Community FC.