THE only saving grace from this match is that Chester did not lose, although they did try pretty hard to achieve a defeat!

It was the home side's worst display of the season but following two successive defeats it was at least a win.

Eventually Chester started to gain some possession and were rewarded with a very good try from Neil Parsley converted by Murray King for a 7-0 lead.

That was the only bright spot in a dismal first half which saw Sheffield's excellent fly-half Pearson convert four penalties following Chester infringements for the away side to get to half time 7-12 in the lead.

The home side picked things up in the second half with the forwards at least gaining parity with a lively Sheffield pack.

The away side increased their lead to 7-15 from another penalty and led the game for 20 mins of the second half, before an opportunist try from Ben Foden under the posts converted by Murray King dragged Chester back to 14-15.

A penalty from Murray King restored Chester to the lead at 17-15 and the home crowd thought they were home. Unfortunately Sheffield thought different and with the home side under tremendous pressure on their own line Murray King had his clearance kick charged down resulting in a try for the visitors. 17-20 down with 10 mins remaining.

It is to Chester's credit that they fought back and regained the lead following a drive from the forwards which led to Gavin Woods scoring what turned out to be the winning try.

This was a hard fought win against a team that had won only one game prior to this game. The home side need to look at their performance closely.

Their once dominant pack is showing signs of creaking, and strong games from Richard Hughes and Gavin Woods in the back row can only cover so much, while the rest of the forwards seemed to lack pace and passion in a poor display.

If the forwards are not producing the platform the backs are always going to struggle, if they are not moving onto the ball they are easy to defend against.

Let us hope it was a one off as let's remember they did win, but they were lucky. A better side would have murdered them.