Referee Jim Bennett who should have been at work for 5.00 pm originally agreed to a shorter playing time but in the end played the full 80 minutes due to the closeness of the final score only finishing shortly before 5pm.

It was a rather lacklustre display by Vale, but there were exceptions to that with a fine all round display by Duncan Thomason, who covered nearly every blade of grass before he had to leave the pitch with an injury shortly before time. Jay Ashton-Yamnikar who replaced Leon Jackson within the first quarter was another who had a fine all round game with some excellent scrummaging and play round the park.
Last years skipper Keiron Doyle was one of the few backs to shine although Tom Crookhall, with some fine tackles, worked hard. Newcomer Luke Richmond had few chances with the ball in hand.

A reasonable start into the strong wind saw the Vale in front after only 2 minutes, Gareth Price slotting over a penalty.
Poor defending saw the Chester 13 go over after 3 minutes, at least 3 tackles being missed. The fly half put over an easy conversion to give them the lead and after a penalty miss by Price in the 7th minute the impressive Chester number 7 stormed over for another try to increase the lead. Again poor tackling was to blame. The 10 knocked over the conversion and things were not looking good.
In the 11th minute Price missed another difficult penalty from wide out with the wind swirling across but shortly after Leon Jackson had to leave with a hip injury and Jay Ashton-Yamnikar made an early appearance.
It was looking ominous for the Vale at this time but against the odds Keiron Doyle made a lovely break and outpaced the cover to go over close to the posts. Price converted to bring the score to 14 – 10 to Chester and then Vale started to hold their own. It seemed that they might hold out against the wind until half time but the strong openside flanker dashed Vale hopes with another try on 33 minutes when the Vale backs were well exposed. Again the 10 popped over the conversion and a few minutes later Gareth Price succeeded with a penalty for Vale to keep them in the game. Unfortunately Vale conceded a debatable try when the Chester right winger appeared to put a foot in touch before he dotted the ball down. The referee allowed the score and the 10 put an excellent kick over from the touchline to make it 28 – 13 as the halftime whistle went.

Half time and time for Vale to regroup and start well in the second half. This did not happen, Chester started at a tremendous pace, forcing the Vale back into their 22. A pick up by the Chester 6 who had no intentions of passing the ball saw him drive through numerous tackles for a score under the posts after only a couple of minutes in the second half. Again the 10 was successful with the conversion and with a score of 35 - 13 Vale now had a mountain to climb.
Vale now organised better and drives from the Vale forwards with Noodles putting in excellent kicks to the corner gave them a chance to score. After one of the Doyle chips to touch Vale won a lineout and a practiced move finished with Duncan Thomason dotting down to give Vale hope. Price’s kick from the touchline sailed over and now with the score at 35 – 20 it looked more promising.
In the 60th minute Price put another penalty over and shortly after Phil Whyte drove over wide out. Again Price was successful and at 35 -30 it was all to play for.
In the 68th minute Thomason was replaced by Jake Haddow who came on to play out of position at flanker.
Vale were holding up regarding fitness better than the previous week but were unable to press home the winning score with Chester defending pretty well and Vale not really looking like getting the winning score.
Chester held out to the end to triumph in an interesting match.
Vale’s commitment seemed to be down on the usual, with some players needing to improve their fitness levels. Hopefully that will happen in the next few weeks and the team will revert to the high standard that they set last season. With hard matches coming up every week they will have to improve if they are to end in the top half as they did last season.
Thanks to referee Jim Bennett for playing the full eighty minutes when he had intimated that he would have to leave early for work.