Sedgley Tigers continued their perfect winning start to the season with a 31-18 home victory on Saturday but were pressed all the way by a resolute Chester side who also pushed the Whitefield team to the last kick in the reverse fixture in September.

Indeed, it was the visitors who had the best of the first 15 minutes with winger Harrison Vare opening the scoring on five minutes after a burst down the left. Liam Reeve added the two extra points and then slotted home a penalty to increase the lead to 10.

This jump-started the Tigers, and within three minutes captain Matt Riley chased a neat kick-through from fly-half Steve Collins to get them on the scoreboard, and Collins added the extra two points.

Sedgley were down a man eight minutes before the break when Tom Ailes was sin-binned, but they kept pushing forward and were rewarded when Danny Maher dropped down after a catch-and-drive on 39 minutes, Collins again with the extras.

There was still time for Chester to add three points when Reeve slotted an impressive penalty from 40 metres to make it 14-13 at the break.

The second half started without any real dominance from either team and it was not until halfway through, full-back Andy Riley was released on the right to add a third try for the home team.

The Tigers fans were edgy again when replacement hooker Alick Croft pushed over under the pack on 67 minutes for the visitors.

The hosts continued to force their way forward, looking for the fourth try with the forwards, especially man-of-the-match Oscar Crowe, relentless in their pursuit, tiring the opposition.

On 75 minutes, the Park Lane faithful could relax a little when Valu Tané Bentley drove over with pack assistance to add the bonus-point try and Collins converted to increase the lead to eight.

On the final whistle scrum-half Jacob Tansey broke through on the right to seal the win for Sedgley Park.

Top-of-the-table Tigers head to Clifton Lane on Saturday to face the Rotherham Titans - a team who was pushing for promotion last season but have struggled to find consistency this term.

So far it is 17 wins out of 17, and Scott Barrow’s team will need to continue with their good form to ensure they keep ahead of Lancashire rivals Fylde who are pressing Sedgley hard in National Two North.