UNDER-STRENGTH Chester Gladiators secured a memorable 36-30 win at Rugby League Conference North West Regional winners Mancunians RL on Saturday.
Rob Massam, fresh from returning from international duty with England Lionhearts, grabbed a hat-trick as the visitors made it a dream double.
Gladiators joint coach Scott Hughes said: “Mancunians are an excellent outfit and worthy champions but we've beaten them twice on their own ground so we know that on our day we are a match for anybody.
“Rob Massam returned from international duty and was outstanding but everybody put their hand up. We had three lads on the bench who have played six games of rugby league between them and they all performed well, and it was good to see our old captain Martin Cormack returning with a strong performance.
"We’ve got one game left, against Crewe & Nantwich, and if we can win that then we will have to wait and see if we've qualified for the play-offs. It's been a challenging season but we’ve more than held our own at this level and it gives us an excellent platform to build on.”
Adam Pierpoint, who linked up well with Massam throughout, and player-coach Declan Foy both bagged a brace of tries, with Chris Pape completing Chester’s scoring with four goals.
See next week’s Chronicle for more Chester Gladiators news.
