Steve Burr said the quick-fire response to the disastrous start to the 2014-15 season proved his squad has ‘character’.

Barnet dismantled the Blues 5-0 on a grim afternoon at the Swansway Chester Stadium on Saturday.

The margin and manner of that mauling led some fans to walk out and one to throw his season ticket toward the bench.

Even the most ardent fans feared the worst for the trip to Forest Green Rovers, a club with more strikers than a French airport, midweek.

But the team answered back with a performance far removed from the weekend and deserving of much more than a 2-1 defeat.

Burr described the 72 hours between the two games as his ‘longest in football’ and said he had demanded a response from his team.

“We let ourselves down on Saturday badly,” said the manager.

“There were a lot of good signs in pre-season and everything just came crashing down on Saturday, which was a shame especially with the euphoria of the first game.

“I was looking for a reaction. We had a long chat on Monday in training because those three days for me have been the longest in football.

“Rightly so, we got some stick on Saturday about the performance but I must say that in all my time I’ve never witnessed 45 minutes like I did against Barnet and I will put it down to a one-off.”

More than 300 fans made the long trek to Gloucestershire on Tuesday and Burr describes that level of support as ‘unbelievable’.

With other clubs having far greater squad depth and resources, the manager has warned that this will be another challenging season but he retains belief in the team he built over the summer.

His time at Kidderminster Harriers demonstrated his knack for spotting and developing talent, and the manager has asked supporters to be patient with his young squad.

Burr said: “I’m determined to be successful here and I know that a successful side here we’d have seen 1,500 there maybe but it takes a bit time.

“We’re a new squad and we’re a young squad as well and learning but there a good group to work with.”

Burr is hopeful centre back Michael Kay will be fit for the trip to Braintree Town on Saturday (3pm) and Wayne Riley could come into contention having completed a suspension carried over from last season.