Preston Grasshoppers 13 Chester 29: Hoppers beaten by clinical Chester

The result was a sixth defeat of the National League Two North campaign, when they should easily have snapped up a losing bonus point – or even picked up a much-needed victory.

Head coach Joel Unsworth said: “I’m disappointed for the lads. We did 80 per cent of the job really well, but our accuracy wasn’t good and we didn’t turn pressure into points.

“We put in a good shift, did the hard yards and played some good rugby.”

Unsworth picked out the work of the back row of Scott Richardson, Hoppers man-of-the match Josh Longson and Sam Gale, although the latter blotted his copybook with yet another yellow card.

The coach also had praise for hooker Harry Thompson’s work “all round the park” and Josh Rourke’s threat with ball in hand in space.

But there were too many errors when Hoppers had chances to score and some wayward first-half touch-finders which put the pressure back on the home side’s defence.

Chester made the perfect start with a second-minute unconverted try by full-back Gethin Long, but Ben Pearson quickly landed a long-range penalty after a high tackle.

In the eighth-minute, Hoppers shocked the visitors further when they forced them into a muddle at the base of a scrum and sent Jacob Browne over for a try converted by Pearson.

Chester hit back with a try by prop Josh Woods after a tap penalty, we’ll converted by LIam Reeve to restore a lead which they were never to lose.

Centre Sean Green capitalised on a loose ball in midfield, hacking on and winning the race for a try converted by Reeve to make is 10-19 at half-time.

Despite more near misses for Chester, Hoppers raised hopes of at least a losing bonus point with a Pearson penalty after prop Tom Furnival was sinbinned.

But, despite their best efforts, that was as close as it got and Chester closed out the game with a bonus-point try by replacement Iwan Phillips and a conversion and penalty from Long.