Chester FC boss Jon McCarthy is ‘calm but not complacent’ about his side’s form and position in the table.

The Blues head to Bromley on Saturday (3pm) looking to arrest a run of seven defeats in their last eight Vanarama National League matches.

It is a run that has seen Chester slip from six points behind the play-off places to seven points above the relegation spots with nine games of the campaign to play.

McCarthy admits he is disappointed that the Blues, who have one of the lowest budgets in the non-league top flight, have been unable to ‘kick on’.

But, apart from the defeat at Maidstone United , he believes the performances they have produced in a series of clashes against some of the league’s top teams have been of a good standard.

And, heartened by the response at half-time in Tuesday’s 3-2 home loss to Macclesfield Town , and by the fact that six of their remaining matches are against teams around or below them in the standings, McCarthy is confident Chester will finish the season strongly.

“We talked about this being a really difficult spell and if we had taken 15 points from it then we would have been right up there,” said the former Northern Ireland international, who last night allowed youngster Kieran Evans to join Runcorn Town on loan.

“There’s some been some decent performances in there without quite being good enough to get over the line. We’re disappointed we’ve not taken more points from this last group of games.

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“But we’ve got a group of games now where we can pick up four or five wins.

“Macclesfield hit the heights the other night, they played with confidence and were at their very best.

“But the pleasing thing for me was the response from the players at half-time as if Macclesfield had carried on playing like that then it could have been 4-1 or 5-1. I told the players, ‘don’t hide, don’t have fear, go and have a go’, and we did that.

“That was really significant for me. The mistake at the end (that led to Macclesfield’s winner) was frustrating and that’s what’s happening to us at the moment.

“But we didn’t go under.”

It is coming up to a year since McCarthy was parachuted into the Blues job after Steve Burr was sacked .

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And, after leading the club to safety, he has always insisted his number one priority in his first full campaign in charge has been to reach 50 points again.

Chester are currently four points shy of that total and McCarthy said: “When I got put into the job last year I needed at least two wins from four games.

“I went to Lincoln for my first game, we went 1-0 down, and then had an injury (to Sam Hughes), meaning I had to make an early sub. I then made two positive subs to respond to going a goal down and James Alabi, one of those, equalises. Then Ross Hannah goes off injured and we’ve used all three subs and instead of getting a 1-1 draw and a massive point, Matt Rhead gets their winner.

“Then we had Welling at home, who we had to beat, and we did that really well, but I knew we also had to then get something at Grimsby, which we did.

“The point I’m making is that we’re sat on 46 points with nine games to go. So, although I’m disappointed with the run we’ve been on, and that we didn’t kick on, there’s a calmness from me, and that’s what I have to impart to my players.

“If you look at it, we’ve taken eight points from the top six, then 10 from the next six, 14 from the next six, and then 14 from the bottom six. It sums up where we are at as a club.

“We’ve got three games against the bottom six, two in the six above, and two against the top teams left. I think we’ll take 10-15 points and be comfortable.

“We’re calm but not complacent. That’s the message, do the work now and make things a little bit easier, but we’re in a much better position than we could have been.”