DUDLEY Kingswinford were beaten 36-5 by fifth-placed Chester this week but were far from disgraced.

The DK’s remained in contention until the final 10 minutes when they leaked three tries which put the issue beyond doubt.

There was cause to fear the worst when Chester ran in two early tries. Richard Varkulis broke through two tackles to score after four minutes, while winger Andy Oakden added a second moments later from a flowing backs move.

The league’s leading points-scorer Rhys Hayes added a conversion and the prospects looked grim for DK’s, especially with the previous week’s 111-point humiliation at Sedgley Park still ringing in their ears.

Matters didn’t help when DK’s then had prop Dan Shakespeare yellow-carded for impeding a tapped penalty.

But DK’s weathered the storm and began to hit back.

Their task was helped when Chester went down to 14 after second row John MacKenzie was sent to the sin-bin on 25 minutes.

The DK’s applied consistent pressure and were rewarded when scrum-half Connah Jones burrowed his way over for a try.

But DK’s suffered a massive blow just before the break when they lost second row Nick Murphy through injury.

Chester added a third try through flanker Will Bown on 55 minutes, but had to wait until 10 minutes from time for a fourth and bonus-point try by prop Guy Kirkby.

Fly-half Will Nelson then snapped up a loose ball to run the length of the pitch and score before replacement Tom Evans made it six.