CHESTER ROMANS endured a tough weekend trip to Nottingham which ended without any reward for the American football team.

The Romans travelled to the Midlands looking to take revenge on a Nottingham Caesars side who had narrowly beaten them 7-6 in Chester, earlier in the month.

It wasn’t to be, though, as the Caesars romped towards another victory in the second half after a closely contested start.

Nottingham led much of the game 14-6, but with the Romans pushing forward, the Caesars exploited spaces on the field to eventually claim a 38-6 win – a scoreline which Romans Head Coach, Levi Edwards, describes as “unflattering.”

Speaking to the Leader, Edwards said: “We didn’t particularly play well, and we under-performed to the expectations and standards we set for ourselves.

“The scoreline is a little unflattering there, but we shot ourselves in the foot again. There’s a lot of work to do, but it can only get better.”

Levi Edwards’ Chester Romans side were also hindered by injuries and the conditions in Nottingham, while a disallowed touchdown potentially changed the course of the game.

Edwards adds: “It was a tough situation, and we struggled with injuries along the offensive line which left us shorthanded.

“For the majority of the game it was 14-6. We ran in a score, but had it taken off the board due to a refereeing decision, so that didn’t particularly help us either.

“Then we were chasing the game, and the play became a little different. We were trying to put up points in a hurry, but not executing well, and the game started getting away from us.

“We were making decisions that we wouldn’t otherwise make and putting the defence in a couple of bad spots.

“I can criticise the referees all I want, but that won’t change any of the decisions. We struggled with quite a few calls, and it just wasn’t going our way, which happens sometimes.”

Wide receiver James Sharrock put points on the board for Chester when he brilliantly latched on to a pass from his quarterback teammate, Toby McManus.

The Romans couldn’t capitalise on the touchdown, though, as they once again failed to make the bonus point kick – as they did in the home clash between the two sides two weeks ago.

Edwards added: “We ran the ball a lot better this week, but we struggled with kicking because the field looked like a minefield.

“The grass hadn’t been cut, and it was an absolute nightmare. There wasn’t a flat piece of ground in the entire place, so there was nowhere to put the ball down on the ground to be flat.

“So, we went for two after the touchdown, at a point when we were chasing the points, but we were unsuccessful.”

Stuart Nunney was hospitalised by an in-game incident with Edwards described as “antics that shouldn’t have been happening”, but the offensive line player has been discharged.

It is currently unknown when Nunney will return to first team action with his injury appearing to be a recurrence of an old one.

Wide receiver, Jake Cooke remains out too in Chester’s only other injury concern. Edwards said: “He will be out for another couple of weeks, which is a big loss because he’s a big playmaker for us.

Next up for the Romans is a tricky trip to the Midlands on Saturday, May 4, to face a Sandwell side who have started the season in imperious form.

The Steelers have scored a mammoth 126 points, while conceding just six, on their way to picking up three wins from three against Shropshire, Nottingham, and Doncaster, respectively.