Tom Casson, Otley’s head coach said he was “delighted with the effort shown by the lads in what was a much improved performance, they showed a lot of grit to see of a determined Chester side”.

Having kicked off, the home side were quick out of the traps, Joe Rowntree stealing the ball from Chester, leading to Max Johnson scoring in the first minute. Rowntree converted and, after a long range attempt, had an easier distance from Chester’s 10m line with another penalty to make the score 10 - 0 three minutes later.

Chester came into the game and started to dominate, Otley eventually caught offside on their touch-line. From the line-out, Chester’s rolling maul saw Alick Croft go over, Callum Bennett adding the extras. They took the lead after 22 minutes having spent time probing Otley’s defence looking for the elusive hole, James Lloyd eventually finding it in the corner.

A high tackle by Chester on 25 minutes was punished by Joe Rowntree to retake the lead, Otley spending the last 10 minutes in the visitor’s half but couldn’t make the territorial advantage count.

In the second half Chester mounted concerted efforts to breach the Otley defence, forcing the home side to make errors. Their breakthrough game when a clearance kick which Otley should have regained went to Chester, Michael Craven sprinting down the left hand side to score. They nearly scored again when Harrison Vare was taken into touch just before the whitewash, and a series of knock-ons saw the attack fizzle out.

Chester were then encamped in Otley’s half for some 20 minutes, yet the resilience shown by Otley last week at Hinckley stood them in good stead. They gradually worked their way out of their half, and started to attack the Chester line. They came close but were penalised for holding on in front of the posts.

Otley’s replacements continued to build the momentum, and Chester were penalised for holding onto the ball, the penalty going close to Chester’s 22. From that line-out, Otley took the ball to the other side of the pitch, before Ben Magee and Josh Hall brought the play back again stretching Chester to give Alex Beaumont room to score in the corner with 7 minutes to go. Otley continued to press and forced errors out of Chester, and saw the game out when Jack Mackie kicked the ball dead.