CHESTER Romans will be hoping to overcome a seemingly unstoppable Sandwell Steelers side when they host the league leaders this weekend.

Sandwell find themselves sitting comfortably at the top of the NFC 1 South division with seven wins from seven so far this season.

In those games, the West Midlands team have scored a sensational 356 points, while conceding just 24.

Despite currently finding themselves fifth in the six-team league - and effectively out of the race for the play-offs - Chester will be buoyed by the fact that they accounted for half of those points.

The Romans were able to score 12 in the reverse fixture against Sandwell back in early May, although that wasn’t enough to prevent an eventual 57-12 defeat in that game.

Chester Romans Head Coach, Levi Edwards, is aware of his team’s constant switching between defensive frailties and offensive struggles.

Speaking to the Leader, he said: “Against Shropshire (in their last fixture), we were unbelievable defensively, but we struggled offensively, while last time out against Sandwell we conceded over 50 points in the first half.

“So, we will try to do better at keeping them out at our end of the field.

“It’s a quick turnaround now to get ready to play the team who are by far the best team in the league. There isn’t much of a chance to prepare, but we are going to attack and attack, and not worry about who we are lining up against.

“We have a much stronger looking squad compared to when we played them last time which was on a Saturday evening.”

Despite results not quite going to plan so far this season, Edwards can at least call upon two quarterbacks who find themselves in fantastic form.

Byron Ward (4) and Toby McManus (2) have six assists between them already, with the latter even running in a touchdown in the 42-0 win over Doncaster Mustangs.

Edwards added: “Byron (Ward) and Toby (McManus) have both been playing really well this season. They’re both neck and neck, with Toby really pushing Byron for that place in the team, and that’s why we’re using both interchangeably.”

The Romans will need both players to continue their run of good form if they are to have any hope of qualifying for the play-offs.

Chester will need to win each of their remaining three matches – against Sandwell, second-placed Lancashire, and Doncaster – while also requiring other results to go exactly their way.

While Chester host league leaders Sandwell, bottom of the league Doncaster Mustangs will head to Shropshire to face a Revolution side who beat the Romans 20-6 in their last outing.