Chester FC manager Steve Burr has been delighted at the impact his new signings have had following a three-match unbeaten run that has taken his team to within six points of the play-offs.

From casting nervous glances back towards the bottom four just a couple of weeks ago, the Blues are now looking upwards again.

Successive wins over Kidderminster Harriers and Lincoln City have taken them above the arch enemy Wrexham for the first time as a fan-owned club and Burr now has his sights on the next milestone.

A win at Welling United on Saturday (3pm) should be enough to take his team into the top half of the Vanarama Conference, somewhere Chester have not ventured since winning promotion in 2013.

A quartet of January additions – Brad Abbott, Ryan Higgins, Matty Hughes and Oliver McBurnie – have been key to the Blues’ turnaround and the added competition for places has jolted the rest of the squad back to life too.

Burr said: “You can see we’ve injected some pace into the side and all of a sudden, like happens in football, the confidence comes back to the lads who were maybe struggling a little bit around Christmas time and burnt out a little bit, and they’ve responded well.

“It’ll be pleasing to go to Welling full of confidence and somebody tells me we’re six points off the play-offs so it just shows you if you can put a run together and get some points on the board then you can soon get within touching distance.

“My aim all season has been to get in that top half and I thought we might have been there on Tuesday but we’re still not in that top half so hopefully we can kick on Saturday and prove that we can get over a bit of a barrier that’s been a problem all season.

“It’s a difficult place Welling, it always has been and they’ll be fighting away but the form we are in at the minute is excellent and we’ll go there in good spirits.”

Burr described the 4-0 win at home to Lincoln on Tuesday as the best performance since he came to the club and was happy to see his team build on Saturday’s 1-0 defeat of his former club Kidderminster.

“Lincoln have been in good form and we knew it was going to be tough but I had a feeling from Saturday that our performance was going to get better again and I just couldn’t wait for the game and thankfully it proved that,” said Burr.

Chester will be without Kingsley James, who completes his three-game suspension, and Matty Brown for the trip to Welling with the skipper expected to be missing for about four weeks after pulling his hamstring at the weekend.

Craig Mahon (ankle) and Gareth Roberts (hamstring) should be fit for after being withdraw as a precaution midweek.

McBurnie’s arrival on loan from Bradford City last week coincided with 19-year-old Tom Peers joining Marine on loan. Burr has also loaned left winger Peter Winn to Kings Lynn Town for a month to gain match fitness.