STOURBRIDGE were outplayed by their hosts Chester in tough conditions which meant free-flowing rugby was off the agenda.

Bad weather took its toll on the playing surface and Stour suffered an early blow when first choice centre Rob Connelly pulled a hamstring just 15 minutes before kick off.

The early exchanges set the tone, a wayward lineout throw was the first of a number of errors which cost Stourbridge possession and eventually they paid the price.

After knock-on and penalty errors Stour conceded a lineout inside their own half and Chester's James Robins kicked to the right side corner. The resulting catch and drive saw Alick Croft crash over with 12 minutes gone and Robins converted.

The Stour kick off by Chris Scott was sent, grubber style, along the ground and his sensible, tactical kicking was one of the few highlight of the visitors’ afternoon.

This allowed Stour to regain ground lost through poor decisions, handling errors and uncertain lineouts that gifted Chester unearned ball at key moments.

The visitors were able to put pressure on the Chester line, a promising move was cut short by an off the ball incident.

Chester regrouped and pushed forward but were also unable to register a score.

On 39 minutes Scott’s kick was returned by Chester, straight to full back Nick David.

He gathered the ball inside the 22 and broke out towards the halfway line. Supported by forwards Tom Dodd and Niall Gibbons the move progressed inside Chester’s half and the final pass was returned to David who touched down on the left.

The conversion attempt was sent wide to make the half-time score 7-5.

Stour restarted with changes to personnel and their playing shirts, a stronger scrum combined with some strong carries by Tom Dodd took the game to Chester.

Stour gave away the ball after a high tackle, Robins’ kick failed to find touch but Stour were unable to secure decent ball and pressure finally told when James Preston touched down on 53 minutes, nine minutes later Matt Van Sertima added five more points in the left corner.

Stourbridge hit back and Jack Lea was unlucky when a possible try was adjudged to have been held up.

The visitors' pack were dominant and secured a penalty for a scrum infringement, they opted for another scrummage which resulted in the award of a penalty try on 72 minutes to put them within five points of their hosts.

More errors eventually allowed Chester replacement Alex Reed to score with just two minutes remaining. James Robins made no mistake with the conversion to make the final score Chester 24 - 12 Stourbridge.

Stourbridge drop to fourth in National League 2 (North), next week they entertain Blaydon who have won just three league games this term.