Chester Gladiators 12 Burtonwood Bridge 58

SOARING temperatures brought a red-hot display out of Burtonwood against a Chester side who had scored 78 points in two previous outings.

A heightened focus served Bridge well en route to a win taking them to the top of North West Men’s League Division Three.

Bridge led 34-0 by the break, the only sour note being the loss of Tom Beech to a badly injured knee after scoring his first points for the team.

Chester scored the first and last tries of the second half but the outcome was never in doubt.

Head coach Lee Cunningham said: “The first half produced some of the very best rugby that we have played all this year but our second-half performance was scrappy, and certainly some distance away from the fluid, ruthlessly efficient performance that we are capable of.

“If we can become that little more consistent in our efforts, and get our completions to an acceptable level for whole games then we may then to start to become a threat to St Cuthberts and St Annes for the division title.”

Try scorers for Burtonwood, who host Crosfields A at Fir Lane on Saturday, kick off 2.30pm, were Craig Holcroft, four, Mikey Ryder, two, Craig Graham, Beech, Craig Stanton, Ross Young and Jos Woods.

Burtonwood: Ross Young; Craig Graham, Tom Beech, Craig Holcroft, Mikey Ryder; Mike Rafferty, Jos Woods; Rikki St Pier, Dan Hart, Scott Birchwood, Joel Albiston, Craig Stanton, Kurt Whiteley. Subs: Mike Richardson, Tommy Unsworth, Craig Burke, Lloyd Feather.

Vice Captain, Craig Stanton, was outstanding in the second row 6 = Prop Forward Tommy Unsworth