After two encouraging confidence boosting victories at the end of 2015 the Vale approached their opening Conference B game in fine fettle. Unfortunately they were unable to impose themselves sufficiently to deny a quicksilver Chester back division time and space, despite the heavy underfoot conditions.

Chester opened the scoring with an unconverted try after the Vale were found guilty of failing to nail the ball carrier. Few clear cut opportunities came the Vale's way but their forwards were undoubtedly in control, but as far as the visitors were concerned the real dangers lay outside the set pieces.

A second Chester try highlighted once again the sprinting qualities to be found in the backs when their right winger left friends and foes, trailing in his wake for a converted try.

The hard grafting Vale forwards had their efforts rewarded when one of their ilk, man of the match, Bobby Holbrook, was railroaded over for a try converted by Aaron Melville. As the half drew to a close another lightning Chester attack ended with a converted try.

Vale dragged themselves back into contention in the second half with another score courtesy of the forward's efforts. Lock Elliot Hatton was in the mix and was swept over by his comrades in arms, his try being converted by Aaron Melville.

With a Chester player in the sin-bin the Vale pack had a strangle hold on the game. They pummelled their opponents, but the strong platform they established was never fully exploited as wrong options were chosen.

The departure of prop Ryan Wood with an injury altered the dynamics of the game because the scrums went uncontested which allowed the home side to enjoy parity at scrum time.

In the fifty eighth minute the outcome was effectively settled when Chester manufactured an unconverted try from deep in their own half, and although the Vale tried desperately to cut the deficit they were unable to press home a series of promising attacks.

With the clock ticking down and the rain pelting down an air of desperation started to cheep into Vale's game and although the home side were under pressure their experienced stand off calmly nudged his side over the finishing line.

Vale's pack produced a terrific performance with their back row of Bobby Holbrook, Rhys Randall and Alex Morrison highly effective throughout. In the backs Jordan Fearns covered well and produced one try saving tackle, while Jake Harrison made a number of breaks before an injured hand forced him to leave the action.