An upbeat Steve Burr beamed with satisfaction after Chester FC ended the 2014-15 season with an exhilarating 5-3 win over relegated Nuneaton Town .

In stark contrast to 12 months ago when the club appeared to have dropped out of the division, the mood at full-time was bright and optimistic after a third straight win secured a top half finish for the Blues.

Burr said: “I’ve enjoyed it, it’s a great club to be at and we’ve just got to try and improve again next year. I’m really pleased with how we’ve ended up this season.

“We’ve had ups and downs, I said from day one that we would, but in general I’d like to think we’ve put some smiles on peoples faces with how we have played. The turnout was tremendous again, the support home and away has been fantastic. It’s been decent and we couldn’t have finished it off better.”

The evening didn’t begin well as Boro punished a poor start from the hosts to take a two goal lead via Andy Brown and Gavin Cowan before Oli McBurnie, in the final appearance of his successful loan spell, replied at the end of the first period.

Chester looked in big trouble when Nuneaton scored a third early in the second-half through Josh Rees but the introduction of Sean McConville and George Thomson turned the game.

Kingsley James, whose future is uncertain, started the comeback in the 62nd minute before McConville levelled the scores seven minutes later and got his second of the game on 75 minutes to put the Blues into the lead for the first time before Thomson, who will surely be next on the manager’s list for contract talks, thumped home a fifth near the end.

It was a thrilling finale to the game and the season, and one that left the manager and supporters with plenty to look forward to in 2015-16.

“It’s a lot better than it was this time last year I can tell you when we sat up here, glum faces, miserable and I must say I was excited by the second-half,” said Burr.

“I love to see goals going in. George Thomson’s in particular I thought was an excellent goal and it’s great to finish off the season with three wins out of three.

“It wasn’t looking like that just after half-time and I thought we had a poor first-half but it’s just great to finish off the season with a win and I said to the team that we’ve got to do it for the people who are here. It was a great turnout and I wanted them to go away happy and we’ve certainly done that.

“I feel for Nuneaton as they gave me the opportunity in management a few years back and I’ll always be grateful for that so I feel for them. It’s not nice to be in that position but I’m sure they’ll come back and they played very well.

“It’s hard to understand sometimes when you’re coming up against a team bottom of the league, who have been relegated and they can produce a performance like that.

“I was pleased particularly with our second-half performance, we woke up and scored some excellent goals.”