Chester 37 Waterloo 15
CHESTER’S superior stre- ngth and fitness shone through at Hare Lane on Saturday as they made a welcome return to winning ways.
Their clash with mid-table Waterloo was a close contest for the first hour, but the hosts powered away in the closing 20 minutes to wrap up a comfortable victory and stay well in the hunt for a play-off spot in National Three North.
Having lost their two previous matches, Chester knew they needed to get back on track quickly – and some hard work on the training paddock paid off.
Head coach Dave Craven said: “We are a team capable of playing some very good stuff but we just hadn’t performed recently.
“We had tended to play a bit too narrow but we worked on putting that right in training because our strength lies in moving the ball wider.
“We fell into our old ways at one stage, but our superior fitness told late on and we were able to run in some good tries.”
Waterloo opened the scoring with an unconverted try. They posed a threat in the first half and went into the break with the score tied at 15-15.
That was how it stayed until Chester started to sling the ball wide and make inroads into the Waterloo defence.
The visitors’ tormentor-in-chief was outside centre Lloyd Hayes, who bagged a hat-trick of tries.
Tom Blackwell, playing at inside centre, delivered a composed display and was at the heart of Chester’s good work.
Next up for Chester is a trip to mid-table West Hartlepool this Saturday.
In the Bateman Premier League on Saturday, Chester 2nds slipped to a 50-24 home loss to leaders Sedgley Park 2nds. They host Caldy 2nds this Saturday.
Christleton, whose Division Four West match against Moore 2nds was postponed, will be hoping to return to action this Saturday with a home fixture against Southport 3rds.
