Tale of woe, as difficult chance goes to waste around close of play (4-4,5)
I believe the answer is:
hard-luck story
'tale of woe' is the definition.
(sad story intended to evoke sympathy)
'as difficult chance goes to waste around close of play' is the wordplay.
'as difficult' becomes 'hard' (synonyms. I am not sure about the 'as' bit.).
'chance' becomes 'luck' (synonyms).
'goes to waste' becomes 'rots' (I've seen this in another clue).
'around' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'close of play' becomes 'y' (I've seen this in other clues).
'rots' written backwards gives 'stor'.
'hard'+'luck'+'stor'+'y'='HARD-LUCK STORY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hard-luck story that I've seen before include "Account of one's problems intended to gain sympathy" , "Yarn spun to gain sympathy" , "An appeal for sympathy" .)