Chester's squad had only been together for around a month and for many was their first time playing outdoors and for Luke Johnson the first time he had met the rest of the team.

With more players than Westhoughton, the players were asked if anyone would volunteer to make the opposition's numbers and Alex Woodbury, Luca Lampard and Sepp Karnik immediately offered to help, demonstrating the spirit and companionship within the squad.

Chester started the game in possession and completed their first set of with committed running taking them close to the Lions line. Westhoughton then attacked and some strong carries helped them make ground even though Gladiators tacked in numbers and despite valiant efforts, particularly from Reuben Swan-Buchan, the visitors scored on the last tackle.

Chester's response was brilliant with good running from Scott Jones, Finley Bacon and Otto Zorn taking them down field and with a tackle to spare Joe Wilcock took the ball up and planted it over the line to level the scores. That gave the team a huge lift and the players began to organise themselves in defence and keep the game tight until the break.

Following the restart, Max Follows chose to run the ball wide and swerved around the defence for a fantastic score. That brought Westhoughton charging back and a superb covering tackle from Reuben denied them what looked a certain try in the corner.

Strong runs from Luca and Alex created good field position for further tries and the Lions had to work incredibly hard to break down a tigerish defence in an end-to-end game between to exciting teams. Chester gave an excellent account of themselves in their first game, exceeding all expectations and receiving deserved praise from the Westhoughton coaches.

Magic Moment awards went to Rueben for his excellent tackling and to Max for leadership in defence and a fantastic run that would have led to the try of the game but unclear pitch markings.