STEVE Waywell is waiting on the fitness of three of his key players as in-form Leigh RMI play yet another crunch game at Chester Citytomorrow writes Martyn Hindley

RMI recorded their fourth Conference victory in five games on Tuesday as a superb all-round performance accounted for Stalybridge Celtic despite knocks to Dino Maamria, Dave German and Ian Swan that caused all three players to be substituted.

Notwithstanding the knocks, the manager is confident that he will have yet another full squad to select from against the ex-Football League side.

"I think all three will be fit enough to start because we took them off as soon as they felt the twinges. What we need to do now is build on the win at Stalybridge because the hard work is far from done.

"Having said that though, should we keep free of injuries until the end of the season, I know that we have the squad here that will keep us in the Conference." The manager remained cautiously optimistic regarding his sides' chances at the weekend.

"It will be a very tough game at Chester and they have been on a bit of a run lately but we need to concentrate on ourselves and our own game. There will be a decent surface, a good atmosphere with quite a large crowd so it will be very interesting." Chester were challenging for a top six spot throughout last season but after the sacking of two managers at the club and discontentment on the terraces, the Deva Stadium has been the home of more mundane expressions this term.

Leigh will want a repeat of last season's performance on the ground when they defied a one man disadvantage after Michael Devenney's red card to lead through a Tony Black penalty before Darren Wraight hit back to level in stoppage time. Meanwhile, Waywell has revealed that he would like to send defender Jamie Udall and midfielder Steve Thompson on loan in order for them to achieve match fitness ahead of the crucial run in.

The manager emphasised their importance to the squad but Thompson has only appeared in a handful of games due to injury and Udall is recovering from a 15 month lay-off.

Chances of first-team football for the pair are, at the moment, slim.