Chester were missing co-captain Mark Kingsley and injured pair Paul Welch and Paddy McDonagh, but welcomed back stand-off Declan Foy and Sam Broadbent, who has rejoined the club.

Both sides began well enough but it was the Gladiators who drew first blood when Jordan Smethurst finished off a good move to score, although Chris Pape could not covert.

Stand-in winger Paul Foster then crossed close to the posts but Pape was again off target and handed kicking duties over to Broadbent with the score 8-0.

Mancunians then began to exert some pressure and punished slack defence with a close range score to cut the lead to two points.

With half time approaching, the visitors claimed a second four-pointer next to the sticks and the conversion saw them go into the break 12-8 in front.

Chester were out of sorts but managed to post the next points when winger Lee Thomas crossed in the corner and Broadbent landed the touchline conversion to put the home side ahead 14-12.

But the lead was short lived with Mancunians working an opening on the right and an unconverted score put them back in front.

Gladiators moved 20-14 up on 55 minutes when replacement forward Luke Harrison burst through the line and raced away to touch down with Broadbent converting.

Once again the lead did not last long and from the restart the Mancunians broke some weak tackles to sprint clear and level the scores.
With the game in the balance, some tough words under the posts sparked Chester into life and the hosts dominated the last 20 minutes.

Broadbent powered over on the right and Smethurst showed a good turn of pace to claim his second as the Gladiators moved 32-20 in front.

Forward Danny Furlong pounced on a knock-back from Broadbent to touch down and Foy stepped through some tired defence to wrap up the scoring in the final minute.

Prop Chris Young was named as the man-of-the-match for a dominant performance in the pack.