Leaders downed in scoreless shocker...

Chester .................. 19pts Hinckley .................. 0pts

HINCKLEY have finally been beaten in National 2 League North – losing in a dramatic game at Chester.

Phil Llewellyn’s runaway leaders had won all six of their league games so far this season, racking up 236 points, but were kept scoreless by the spirited hosts.

Chester, who suffered their first defeat against Peterborough Lions last time out, bounced back to beat the current leaders at Hare Lane, allowing Hull Ionians to move top of the pile.

A single converted Tom Holloway try gave the hosts a 7-0 lead at the break before two further scores from Guy Ford and Colin Campbell saw Chester pick up an unexpected yet deserved triumph, which more than pleased head coach Jan van Deventer.

“That was almost the perfect performance, we controlled the game from minute one,” he said.

“To come up against this sort of opposition, a team who have been averaging 30-40 points each week and keep them scoreless is unprecedented – it was a phenomenal defensive display.

“We were also clinical when we needed to be, scoring three good tries. I couldn’t have asked the boys to do much more.

“It’s been a frustrating few weeks, having one game postponed then being unlucky losers against Peterborough last time out but now we feel we’re ready to push on and move up the table after this victory.”

Chester opened the scoring with a lovely try from scrum-half Holloway, who dotted down following a sumptuous inside pass after a daring run down the wing from George Baxter.

The successful conversion from James Robins extended the lead to seven points, which is how it stayed heading into the break.

Nine minutes into the second half and Chester No.8 Ford powered through four Hinckley defenders to score under the posts.

Robins was again successful with the conversion, making it 14-0 to the valiant home side.

Chester's third and final try came three minutes from full-time with a trademark rolling maul doing the damage as loosehead prop, captain and star man Campbell forced the ball down.

Robins this time missed the conversion but some more durable defence saw the hosts hold out for a memorable 19-0 win.

And Hinckley coach Llewellyn gave an honest assessment of his team’s sub-par performance at full-time.

“We simply were not accurate around the pitch,” he said.

“We’re not overly concerned with the result and whether we’re winning or losing – with us it’s all about match performance and that simply wasn't good enough.

“Fair play to Chester, they give it a crack and on this occasion, they got the better of us.

“But I'm confident there will be no hangover from this result and we'll put everything right in training to be firing again next weekend.”