Otley 36-22 Chester

A combination of a slow start, missed tackles and clinical finishing from the home side was enough to condemn Chester to a defeat at Otley on Saturday. As a result, the teams swap places in National 2 North and Chester slip to 5th. Otley, playing only their 2nd game since the 10th December due to weather postponements showed no signs of rustiness as they scored four tries to lead 30 - 3 after 36 minutes.
Chester were caught napping on 4 minutes when a quick lineout was taken, passes interchanged and winger Elliot Morgan scored in the corner.
Further tries followed on 14, 25 and 36 minutes as a mixture of tight forward drives and sparkling three-quarter moves punished some lacklustre defence from Chester. Tries were scored by flanker Waddington, full-back Irvine and fly-half Crossland. Adding to these scores, scrum-half Joe Rowntree added 2 conversions and 2 penalties. Chester gave themselves some hope for a better second half as a much improved effort in the closing minutes of the first half saw scum half Tom Holloway take advantage of fierce try line pressure to score. Liam Reeve landed the conversion to add to his 9th minute penalty. Otley second row Adam Malthouse was sin-binned as a result of team offences in the build up to the try, the first of three yellow cards that the home side received.
Chester were much more focused in the second half, having come to terms with the forward arm wrestle and cutting down on unforced errors. Their first try of the second half, after conceding a three point penalty landed by Rowntree, was scored by Harrison Vare following a superb long pass from Reeve and good work from centre Sean Green. Reeve added the conversion. Chester battled hard to get further back in the match, only for centre Morgan, just prior to being sin-binned for a deliberate knock on, returned a goal line drop out with a skilful drop goal. As Chester began to gain ascendancy in the forward battle in the last 15 minutes, hopes rose of a thrilling fightback. The forwards were thwarted by some excellent goal line defence, but with space out wide Reeve fed centre Charlie Craven to score in the corner. As time ebbed away all efforts turned to a try bonus point but despite attacking via a 12 man maul, the try line couldn't be breached for a fourth time and the whistle blew.