Chester 10 Penrith 15

PENRITH stormed Chester’s Hare Lane fortress on Saturday as Tim Doig’s men lost on home soil for the first time this season.

The setback saw second-placed Chester lose further ground on leaders Stockport, who stretched their lead at the summit to six points.

Chester hadn’t played for a fortnight due to the cold snap but a Friday evening pitch inspection allowed the match to go ahead.

The hosts gave away a string of penalties and Penrith capitalised by scoring a converted try in the eighth minute.

Chester were far from at their best but they got back into the game when Will Bown drove over the line following a scrum. Penrith then hit back with a penalty, scored after Sion Rowlands was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle, to make it 10-5 going into the break.

The second half started badly for the hosts when the Penrith flanker crashed over to score out wide on 45 minutes.

There was still plenty of time for Chester to fight back – and they have pulled off plenty of comebacks this season. But they were unable to overhaul Penrith, despite back row Ross White grabbing a valuable losing bonus point with a consolation try.

Weather permitting, Chester play their final match of 2010 at Middlesbrough this Saturday (2.15pm).