Chester started the game in possession with Sepp Karnik as dummy half, scanning the line and firing out passes to Max Follows, Luca Lampard and Alex Woodbury.

St Judes punished the Gladiators in the opening third with the first two turnovers ending in the hosts getting points on the board.

Realising the size of the challenge, the Chester defence began to take shape with Ieuan Jones, Reuben Swan Buchan and Sepp Karnik throwing themselves at the charging Wigan hordes. Chester ran hard at the St Judes line with three sets being held up just short of the white stuff.

In the second period it looked as if it was going to be a rerun of the first but a determined Gladiators side fought back with hard running from Joe Wilcock and Ieuan Jones eventually leading to Max Follows crossing for Chester's first score.

The final third of the match was filled with offloads from both sides with Jack O'Hea, Finley Bacon and Luke Johnson working hard in defence and both teams making smart use of the touchline as an extra defender.

Magic moment awards were given Ieuan Jones and Joe Wilcock for all round effort both in defence and offence.

The coaches agreed afterwards it was hard to believe the team have only been playing matches for eight weeks and in some cases less.