CHESTER coach Jan van Deventer admitted that his side’s 22-21 home victory against Otley left him ‘frustrated’.

A positive 35-minute spell saw the hosts race into a commanding 22-point lead before the visitors stormed back into the contest.

Kyle Joseph powered over the whitewash early on, before James Robins despatched the conversion to make it 7-0.

Dominant in both possession and territory, Chester extended their lead when Alick Croft finished off a swift passing move with Robins converting once more.

Sustained pressure from the hosts culminated in a try for Guy Ford before the half hour mark, before Robins slotted a 30-metre penalty to make it 22-0.

Otley notched a converted try just before the interval to reduce arrears in one of their only attacking incursions of the half.

Buoyed by their late first-half rally, the visitors emerged galvanised after the break and ran in two further converted scores to bring themselves within a point of Chester.

Despite failing to register a single point after the restart, Chester’s defence eventually improved and withstood a series of attacks to emerge with the win.

Deventer said: “It'’s massively frustrating to have been so good in that first half and dominated play and then to let them back into the game like that.

“Their try just before half-time obviously instills a bit of positivity and belief in their play but we switched off without a doubt.

“It was like we sat back and let them play. Our concentration levels were so poor in that second 40 and we struggled to keep a hold of the ball.

“It’s just fortunate that we had enough points on the board to withstand their fightback, because we were far too careless in possession.

“They seized the momentum and on another day could have taken that win away from us.

“It’s a win at the end of the day and we would have taken that scoreline before the game, but it was the the manner of our performance which was concerning.

“We take the points and we move on but we have to learn from that second half  and ensure we improve if we want to keep pushing up the table.”

League leaders Hinckley were 27-0 victors at Leicester Lions, while second-placed Sale won 27-16 at Sheffield Tigers.