CONFERENCE heavyweights Hereford United and Chester City will battle it out for top spot at Deva Stadium tomorrow.

Bulls boss Graham Turner is playing the clash down by claiming only three points are at stake but victory would hand them early advantage in the promotion race and also provide a useful five point cushion.

Either way it promises to be an intriguing match as the league's leading scorers encounter the division's meanest defence.

While United have scorched to top spot in a flurry of goals (38 in 14 games) Chester have steadily accumulated points, conceding just seven goals in the process and only two at home.

Turner though believes the biggest test for his players will be of their character.

"I think character as much as anything will be the most important thing," he said.

"There will be a good atmosphere, a bit of tension and it's the type of match that will tell you a little bit about the strength of character.

"We've got a young squad and it will be interesting to see how they react."

"Chester are packed with experience, have got a big squad and could put out a second eleven that would beat most Conference teams," he added.

"We didn't play well against Dagenham and we can put that right tomorrow."

Hereford captain Tony James is relishing the clash but not expecting to see many goals.

"Over the last few weeks we haven't given it too much thought but now it's upon us the match is even bigger and it should be a really good game," he said.

"I think away from home the emphasis in terms of attacking is on the home side and that might work to our advantage because it opens up more space for us," he added.

"In some ways we prefer playing away because we can catch sides on the break.

"We've been scoring lots of goals and taking our chances but sometimes you have grind results out and especially with their defence Saturday might be one of those type of games and end up a 1-0."

James, as calm and collected off the pitch as he is on it, insists the important thing is to keep the points tally ticking over.

"Looking back at the Dagenham & Redbridge result a draw was probably a fair result," he said.

"It's the worst we have played all season but we still managed to get a point which is the good thing. We managed to win our last two away games so are continuing to pick up points."

FORMCAST: All square 1-1.