The pattern of the game and its eventual outcome changed dramatically either side of half time with the contest swinging decidedly in favour of the visitors.
Prop Phil Jackson’s departure with a shoulder injury as the game moved into the closing ten minutes caused wholesale disruption to the Vale’s scrum, a situation that Chester exploited to the full for the remainder of the game.
Then with half time approaching, and the Vale leading 12-9 a speculative Chester kick downfield flashed tantalisingly away from the covering Alex Morrison’s hands. Unable to close down the inherent danger and before anyone from the Vale could react, the ball was hacked deep into Vale territory for the Chester poachers to bag a converted try against the run of play.
Four minutes into the second half the Vale’s defence was ripped apart by a powerful, take no prisoners run, from one of the visitor’s centres for a converted try.
Despite regrouping and playing with spirit the Vale were always chasing the game with the two Chester scores either side of the interval proving to be decisive as did the departure of the experienced Jackson.
Chester opened the scoring with a penalty goal but in the ninth minute James Curran showed his pace and eye for an opening when he raced a defender for a clinical try converted by Sean Coulshed.
In a closely fought opening quarter Chester went into the lead with two more penalties before Curran collected a second try. Olly Simmons made an exhilarating break before arrowing a long accurate pass in the waiting hands of Curran who sprinted away for an unconverted try in the thirty sixth minute.
Vale’s three point lead quickly evaporated in the game changes minutes either side of half time but the home side showed character and determination to haul themselves back into the game.
A penalty goal from Jamie Antcliffe in the fiftieth minute boosted confidence but Chester hit back with two tries one of which was converted. The last word belonged to the Vale when Curran collected a deserved hat trick following a classy break from Andy Muir, with Antcliffe adding the conversion.
Curran’s hat trick earned in the man of the match award but there were excellent contributions from Simmons, Daniel Harrison-Knowles, Dan Rainford and John Hodkinson, who showed a massive appetite for hard work in a struggling pack, playing either as a hooker or prop.
This was the final league fixture for the Vale ahead of the conference system which comes on stream for the remainder of the season and brings with it a new set of challenges.
Vale A: T Vanstone; J Curran, J Antcliffe, O Simmons, A Muir; S Coulshed, L Powers; A Morrison, J Hodkinson, P Jackson; A Foxcroft, D Rainford; T Cvijanovic, D Harrison-Knowles, D Harrison. Replacements used: M Crewsdon, P Bolton, M Thackray