Chester suffered another unlucky defeat as Harrogate claimed a narrow 27-23 win at Hare Lane in National League Two North.
The match had much in common with the home loss to Luctonians a fortnight earlier as Jon Aby’s men allowed the opposition to build a significant lead and came up short on the chase, and it was a particular pity Chester could not mark Tom Foden’s 200th appearance in a first-team shirt with a win.
Harrogate scored three good tries in the first-half, and were tactically very well managed around the field by fly-half Callum Irvine, who varied his play well and showed a keen eye for scoring opportunities.
After only three minutes, Chester were turned over in midfield and the ball was passed quickly from the breakdown to Irvine for a fine individual try, converted by fullback Lewis Minikin.
On 19 minutes, Harrogate set up camp close to the Chester tryline. They drove two successive five-metre lineouts, the first yielding a penalty and the second a converted try.
On the half-hour, Ross White won another Harrogate lineout on the Chester line, but the home side could not engineer a successful exit from defence with Greg Aspin extending Harrogate’s lead.
Minikin missed the conversion but Harrogate were now 3-19 in front, Rhys Hayes having got Chester off the mark with a penalty in the 14th minute.
Up to now, Chester had been let down by minor handling errors and allowed the Harrogate defence to regroup. At last, in the 34th minute, their attacking promise came good. A Harrogate kick was fielded on the Chester 22 and moved left infield to Rhys Hayes, who took the ball just beyond halfway and winger Josh Wilson scored an unconverted try to make the half-time score 19-8.
Chester’s second-half strategy was to put pace on the game and it paid quick dividends. After 43 minutes, a Craig Ross 40-metre break helped Sean Green crossed in the corner for an unconverted try.
Harrogate’s six-point lead looked vulnerable however the visitors increased their advantage with a soft penalty.
In the final quarter, Chester’s accuracy returned and the visitors had a man sent off for stamping. In the 69th minute, Harrogate’s pack was shunted quickly backwards, resulting in Adam King recording an unconverted try. However, almost from the restart, the visitors struck back.
A high kick was spilled under pressure and fell directly into the arms of Aspin, who went in for an unconverted try to make the score 18-27.
Almost on the final whistle, King broke for a bonus-point fourth try, to make the final score 23-27.
Chester travel to Leicester Lions on Saturday (2pm).
Helsby take another step towards title
Helsby recorded a fine 26-0 win at third-placed Acton Nomads to take another step towards the Division Five South title.
Having taking the lead in the first minute, Helsby then came under heavy pressure but the defence held firm and a try on the counter gave them a 14-0 lead at the break.
The second-half was an even affair but Helsby’s more ruthless finishing saw them cross twice more to secure the victory.
Matty Burns was named as man of the match for Helsby, who have a huge game this weekend when nearest challengers Winnington Park are the visitors on Saturday (2.15pm).
