Steve Burr has sympathy for Nuneaton Town's plight but the Chester FC boss is determined to finish the 2014-15 season with a third straight win.
Relegation was confirmed in mid-April for Boro - where Burr began his managerial career 15 years ago - and anything but victory at the Swansway Chester Stadium on Saturday (5.15pm) will see them finish bottom.
Chester are in good spirits following back-to-back wins against Dover Athletic and Aldershot Town, and another three points will secure them a place in the top half should Torquay United fail to beat Macclesfield Town.
Burr has been heartened with the progress made in the past 12 months and admits it will be nice to go into the final game under no pressure after what happened last season.
But the manager insists his team will not be going easy on his former club and will want them to put down a marker for the 2015-16 campaign.
"We'll enjoy it more if we win and get the right result, and it's the last game of the season so we want to send the supporters away happy and I'm sure we can do that," said Burr.
"I feel for Nuneaton because obviously they gave me my opportunity in management quite a number of years ago and to see them where they are is disappointing but I'm sure they'll regroup and be back at some point.
"When they have lost they've lost by a close margin and we know every game in this division is tough."
Nuneaton ended Woking’s play-off hopes with a 1-1 draw at the James Parnell Stadium last weekend.
Boro sacked Brian Reid as manager in September following a dreadful start to the season and appointed ex-Coventry City defender Liam Daish.
Despite a seven-game unbeaten run giving the club hope, Daish was unable to claw back enough points to keep them in non-league's top flight.
Daish, who has been non-committal over his own future, insists the outcome would have been different had been in charge from the outset.
He told the Coventry Telegaph: “Things would have been different. The other day I looked through the bits and pieces on the squad that I inherited and half of our budget was made of players who were offering nothing.
“They weren’t good for this club and had no ambition for this club. That was half of our budget on dross – that was the first thing I identified.
"If it had been my squad, I would have gone for different types of players."
Chester will have to make at least one change because midfielder Brad Abbott has returned to parent club Barnsley.
Kingsley James would be the obvious replacement but with talks over a new deal having stalled, the manager could decide to give George Thomson a chance to impress.
Oliver McBurnie completes his successful loan spell from Bradford City and Burr confirmed he would keen to bring the centre forward back again next season.
Burr said: "Brad's gone back to Barnsley because they want to have a look at him for the remaining few games of the season. We were pleased with Brad's efforts here, he improved us and we wish him well back at Barnsley.
"Oli's done great and he's a popular lad around the dressing room. I know he's enjoyed it. We got a lovely report on him from his time with Scotland mentioning the fact that his time at Chester had helped him and I know he'll be going back to Bradford in better shape and it's going to be a big season for him there. We'll keep an eye on him but I'm sure being a young lad that he is the pre-season will be important for Oli to kick into their first team.
"We're just missing Matty Brown. Michael Kay had a slight knock on his knee but I think he'll be okay so that should give us a full squad."
Nuneaton are looking to do the double over the Blues after a 3-2 win in the reverse fixture . James Armson and Lee Fowler gave Boro a 2-0 lead at the interval.
Craig Hobson netted early in the second period after coming off the bench but Marcel Barrington got a crucial third before Rhys Oates pulled another back in time added-on.
