Chester dominate to keep Hoppers bottom

CHESTER started their year off with a comfortable bonus-point victory over Preston Grasshoppers at Lightfoot Green.

In testing conditions, both sides struggled to gain any early momentum in the opening quarter.

Chester began the tryscoring after building up numerous phases, which resulted in Colin Campbell crossing the whitewash for a simple try, with Callum Bennett converting to add to his early penalty, which gave the visitors a 10-0 lead.

But Hoppers narrowed the gap on 25 minutes courtesy of Will Lees. The flanker did well to break the gain-line and go straight through some weak Chester defending, with Lewis Allen slotting the conversion.

However, just three minutes later, Chester extended their lead. Shaun Strudwick ghosted past some poor Hoppers defenders and simple hands put Kyle Joseph in out wide.

Two minutes after the interval Chester sealed the win when Liam Gill crossed from a driving maul. Hoppers then spent the next quarter trying to break down Chester’s resolute defence, but handling errors and poor decision making prevented the hosts from scoring.

Chester flexed their muscles and raced away for their bonus-point try, with Craig Ross finishing off a well-worked move.

Hoppers did have the final say, though, when Billy Woof dotted down in the corner.