Chester slipped further away from the top five after going down by a single point at home to Tynedale.

On a heavy pitch at Hare Lane and, having to contend with a torrential downpour during the game, both sides struggled in the conditions with a wet and greasy ball.

Tynedale began well, dominating much of the opening 30 minutes, and Chester were finding it difficult to exit from their own half, falling foul of the referee at the breakdown.

But the visitors couldn’t make their dominance count and had only an 11th-minute penalty to show for their efforts.

Chester get stuck into Tynedale

Just after the half-hour mark Chester won a penalty and Callum Bennett set up an attacking lineout 20 metres from the Tynedale line.

The home forwards first mauled the ball and then carried play forward through a series of rucks before captain Guy Ford crossed wide out for the try.

With Chester 7-3 in front, having been on the back foot, their tails were up and they applied severe pressure on the Tynedale line for the remainder of the half, but were unable to make it count.

Despite their clear scrum dominance, which led them to spurn successive penalty shots at goal, they were unable to exercise the degree of control needed to break their opponents' stubborn resistance.

Tyndale drew encouragement from Chester’s inability to make their pressure pay and, with the help of defensive mistakes, they bagged an unconverted try to make take the lead by a point.

On 66 minutes a Chester turnover and some excellent carries from the pack earned a penalty, which Bennett converted from 25 metres out to put the home side narrowly in front 10-8.

It looked as though Chester might just hold out and they had several further attacking opportunities but lacked the precision to take them, conceding first a knock-on and then a penalty.

Tynedale refused to give up and continued to defend energetically, and in the 77th minute a chip into Chester territory yielded a 35-metre penalty opportunity.

The penalty was duly kicked and Tynedale’s forwards successfully claimed the ball from the restart and managed to hold on to it for the remaining minutes to claim an 11-10 victory.

Christleton suffered a 47-5 defeat at high-flying Congleton.

Helsby's title hopes were hit by a 26-19 loss at Prenton 2nds.

Sam Evans of Chester Devas in action on Saturday

Chester Devas, meanwhile, put on an impressive display to claim a 10-5 success over Vagabonds.

Chester opened the scoring after a simple kick through, spurring both sides into action.

It was the Devas who scored again, a fabulous try from Sammy Evans, running from well inside her own half to make it 10-0.

Vagabonds made a fist of it in the second half and reduced the arrears to 10-5 but Chester held on for maximum spoils.