A SPLENDID Simon Verbickas break in the last minute of the game set Tom Foden free to touch down in the corner and earn Chester victory at Hare Lane on Saturday.
It was a very important win for Chester to keep them in title contention in fourth place, just four points adrift of top spot and two points behind the second and third teams with a game in hand over at least one team above them.
Trailing by 17-3, Chester looked to be out of the match with time running out, despite dominating possession, particularly up front. But this side has a never-say-die attitude and would not lie down and accept defeat.
In the third minute Chester found themselves behind following a try from the Morley blindside wing forward after an error from a Chester play. Colin Stevens converted.
Following many plays Chester finally got on the scoreboard with a Verbickas penalty.
Chester were then reduced to 14 men with Jim Lyle sent to the sinbin following a foul in the tackle. Chester had to defend with all they had and kept Morley out for those 10 minutes and the game was on a knife edge at 7-3 at the interval.
After the break Morley came out fighting and were camped in the Chester half for long periods as the game at this stage was being run by the experienced Stevens. Their pressure told when Dave Hapton broke two tackles to touch down under the posts, with the extras added by Stevens to make the score 14-3 to the visitors. Stevens then landed a penalty to extend the lead to 14 points.
Chester responded by defending well and then turning their defence into offence, being led by Walker Smith Way MoM Gavin Taylor who stopped Stevens from playing by turning him over time after time, robbing the ball and then rampaging off up field. It was the impressive Paul Campbell who scored the first try of the amazing comeback to make the score 17-8.
Following a scrum Matt Sheen was credited with the try in a pushover to make the score 17-13 and Verbickas tried a drop goal for the conversion from out wide to save time as the referee had stated that there was only one minute and 20 seconds of play to go.
The gamble paid off and the Foden try in the last play of the game saw the home side to victory.
Chester Ladies 56, Bangor University Ladies 0
CHESTER crushed their Welsh visitors who were having their first outing of the season.
Chester were first to settle as a ball from the Chester scrum was passed out to Tess Gardner whose speed enabled her to score.
Chester became more confident with a try under their belt and very soon a kick over the Bangor forwards was kicked along the floor by Leni Smith to the try-line where she jumped on it for the second try.
The third try came from Gardner who received the ball as it was passed along the line and broke through to go over the line.
Chester kept the pressure on and although Bangor won a scrum five yards from their own try-line as they tried to kick it up field it was charged down by Lyndsey Naden and picked up by Trish Brown who scored.
Although Bangor had dominated the early scrums Chester's pack worked hard to match them, resulting in Trish Brown breaking from the base of the scrum with the ball running half the length of the pitch to score.
Before the half-time whistle Chester again took advantage of a loose ball with Gardner jumping on it to score her hat-trick, converted by Naden.
Chester started the second-half with confidence, passing the ball out immediately with the final pass to Rachel Smith who ran on untouched to score.
Chester even began to win ball against the head in the scrums. The ball came out to Kath Roberts who ran through the Bangor forwards before popping the ball to Meg Youdan who ran to score under the posts. This was converted by Naden.
Chester's confident passing back and forth as they advanced put pressure on Bangor and it resulted in another try by Jo Seymour and again converted by Naden before Youdan went over in the corner for her second try
The next match at Chester is on Sunday when Chester U17 girls take on North Wales at 2pm. Helsby 17 Parkonians 14 Helsby maintained the title challenge with a late victory over Parkonians on Saturday.
A poor start by the home side allowed the visitors to score an early converted try, but a Rowlinson penalty opened Helsby's scoring.
Soon after a second converted try by Parkonians increased their lead, only for Helsby to get back into the game when John Williams charged down a kick and hacked the ball on and won the race to the touchdown. Rowlinson converted to make the half-time score 10-14.
The second-half was a tight encounter with both teams failing to break down their opponents' defence and with just five minutes left it was scrum-half Alex Rutter who broke from the base of a ruck, ran 40 yards and then chipped over the oncoming defence and re-gathered the ball to score a breathtaking try to win the game for Helsby, Rowlinson converting to put the icing on the cake.
Helsby's Frodsham Tandoori MoM was Jim Gray for his outstanding workrate.
