Foden’s men battle to win revenge mission

Dec 12 2008 Chester Chronicle

Chester 27 Malvern 6

CHESTER gained swift revenge over Malvern – but they made hard work of it.

The two sides went head-to-head in the league on Saturday, just a fortnight after Malvern had eliminated holders Chester from the EDF Energy Intermediate Cup.

Rob Foden’s men put the record straight at Hare Lane with a well-deserved, if unspectacular, victory over the Midlands One basement boys.

Early on, it looked as if the hosts were going to run away with the game.

An assault on the Malvern line the cumulated with a first try for Chris Lewis after only two minutes, converted by the reliable Tom Foden. The Chester fly-half then took control of proceedings for the next 10 minutes with a kicking game that pinned the visitors deep into their own half. He was skilfully supported by Simon Verbickas and captain Sean Green.

Slowly but surely, however, Malvern got back into the game, with their pack working hard to counteract the pace of the Chester forwards.

The hosts lived dangerously, conceding eight penalties before Malvern finally got some points on the board with their ninth penalty attempt.

What followed was a dull period of play, with neither side able to gain any ground even though a lot of effort was put in.

The crowd started to call or some more noteworthy play, so Foden obliged. With what is fast becoming his trademark run, he sidestepped all in sight and ended up getting onto a final pass to score out wide and make it 12-3 at the break.

After the restart, Chester conceded a penalty close to the posts after big second row Paddy Hughes found himself in the sin bin, allowing Malvern to bring the deficit to six.

The visitors then found themselves reduced to 14 when their fly-half was sent to the bin and Chester restored their nine-point lead from the boot of Foden.

Chester attacked straight from the kick-off and put the final result beyond doubt when Foden’s deft kick over the top allowed Ed Chantler to score in the corner. Unfortunately, the try-scorer injured himself in the process and had to be replaced by Gareth Coy.

Cranking up the pressure late in the game, Chester had the final say when No8 Ross White crashed over to score with only a few minutes remaining.

Chester are without a fixture this weekend.

Helsby 8 Parkonians 10: Helsby came agonisingly close to beating the league leaders on Saturday.

In the absence of a recognised goal-kicker, Helsby opted to run two kickable penalties late on – a decision they were left to rue after losing by just two points.

The visitors opened the scoring with a 10th-minute converted try, but Helsby soon got on the scoreboard with fly-half Simon Williams – standing in for broken thumb victim Kev Ryder – kicking an easy penalty.

At the start of the second half, Helsby camped in the visitors’ 22, but then a wayward pass allowed Parkonians to break and go seven points ahead thanks to a penalty.

Helsby scrum-half Lee Thomas brought it back to 10-8 when he picked up at a scrum and dived over for a try.

But then Helsby lost Williams for 10 minutes following a yellow card for a high tackle. It turned out to be a crucial factor as Williams was off the field when the home side were awarded a couple of penalties which could have put the home side into the lead.

Helsby host Knutsford tomorrow in the Cheshire Plate.

Northwich 3rds 5 Christleton 59: Rory Ferguson bagged a hat-trick of tries and the man of the match award as Christleton marched on in Miller Homes League Four West.

Forwards Cousins, Teasdale, Noble and Polish second row Okrajek Wojciech played with strength and determination, providing an excellent platform for the backs.

Captain Iain Smith opened the scoring with an early try and the scores just kept rolling in, with Will Jones, Dave Pugh, Andy Coates, Chris Parkin, debutant Rob Fitzgerald and Ferguson (3) all registering.

Dave Taylor and Jim Taylor shared the kicking duties, converting four and three respectively.