A LATE flourish saw Tynedale claim two unlikely bonus points after being comprehensively outplayed by visitors Chester.

Trailing 33-17 with just five minutes of normal time left, Tynedale, without a host of key players, looked dead and buried.

However, while they could not hang on to their unbeaten home record, they staged a fine late rally to claim two late tries to salvage something from the game.

Tynedale fought gamely but they could not paper over the cracks left by the absence through injury of influential players including skipper Matty Outson, flanker Joe Mills, fly half Ash Smith, centre Will Miller and hooker Louis Frankland

Mistakes at key moments and some wayward kicking proved costly.and Tynedale were not helped by the fact referee Jonathan Cook - an old boy of Hexham Queen Elizabeth High school - awarded a penalty against them for a crossing offence which no-one else at Corbridge saw,

Chester scored a try from the penalty, and the decision completely took the wind out of Tynedale's sails.

The visitors looked impressive from the start, with Tynedale hardly getting a touch of the ball before they were behind with four minutes gone. A penalty was kicked to touch, and from the line out, the powerful Chester forwards bundled their way overt the line, the try credited to lock Will Bown.

The kick failed, but fly half Callum Bennett. whose kicking from hand was excellent, made it 8-0 with another penalty on 10 minutes,

Rob Parker got Tynedale on the scoresheet with a 25th minute penalty,and although this was almost immediately cancelled out by another Bennett penalty hooker James Blamire pulled off a polished interception just outside the Chester 22,, and went in under the posts for Parker to convert to make it 11-10 on 32 minutes,

Once again either 15 minutes either side of half time proved costly for Tynedale as on 39 minutes full back Johnny Mock was yellow carded, and Bennett landed the penalty to make it 14-10.

From the restart, rollerball replacement prop Ben Haigh burst through the Chester defence, sending Blamire in for his second try, converted by Parker, to put Tynedale ahead for the first time.

Tynedale seemed set for an interval lead and were pressing again through Haigh when referee Cook incurred the wrath of the crowd with his crossing ruling. From the resultant penalty, Chester broke away, and a forward drive brought a try for winger Harrison Vare to give Chester a 19-17 interval lead.

A disastrous start to the second half saw Tynedale leak two tries in five minutes, one from a very poot kick by Parker both touched down by replacement Kyle Joseph to leave them deep in trouble at 33-17 down

But they rallied well, and a superb run by centre Jack Harrison put in Parker for a try with five minutes left, and seven minutes into injury time, and with Chester centre Tom Foden in the sin bin, the buccaneering Haigh powered in for the four try bonus point.

Tynedale face another testing away trip on Saturday to high-flying Caldy, who lie in second place in National Two (North), only one point behind leaders Sale FC.

After losing their opening match of the season, 16-13 at Sedgley Park, the Wirrral side

have won five in a row and boast the meanest defence in the league, conceding only 81 points (and just 10 tries) in those six games.

They won 35-17 at Chester, 56-18 at Scunthorpe, 39-20 at Preston Grasshoppers, 34-3 at home to Otley and, last Saturday, 21-7 at Hinckley.