Kingsley James says the progress Chester FC has made since the end of last season has been ‘massive’ and has called for one last push to cement a top-half finish.

Four straight wins prior to last weekend’s defeat at the hands of Eastleigh had raised the unlikely prospect of the play-offs, which would have been laughed off two games into the campaign.

Given Chester would be in the Conference North if not for the demises of Salisbury City and James’ former club Hereford United, the England C midfielder thinks the Blues can be proud of what has been achieved.

“I think for us to even be contemplating the play-offs at this stage of the season is a massive achievement for the club and us as players,” said James.

“It’s a credit to everyone involved and it’s important that we finish as high up the table as we can. We’ve had a good season with an excellent cup run and we’ve played some great football and that’s one thing that people from other clubs talk about so we’ve certainly made our mark on the league.”

James’ decision to leave Hereford in the summer and sign a 12-month deal at the Swansway Chester Stadium has been vindicated with the most impressive season of the 23-year-old’s career to date. He has scored twice in his 37 appearances, won two caps for England C and has gained Football League admirers.

Rotherham-born James is non-committal about his future but will surely be one of the players manager Steve Burr hopes to convince to pen an extended contract.

“It’s been a good season for me personally,” said James, who started out at Sheffield United before moving on to Port Vale.

“I’ve been playing week in, week out and being in a good footballing team is better for me as a midfielder.

“I’ve not really spoke to the manager yet about next season or thought too much about it and we’ll see what happens.”

James has had to make do with a place on the bench of late with Brad Abbott and John Rooney developing a good partnership in his absence through suspension.

He came on for the final 20 minutes of the loss to Eastleigh and admits not playing this weekend is not ideal, particularly with the game at Wrexham next up on March 7.

“It’s frustrating not to have a game because you’d want be playing on the Saturday if not the Tuesday straight after when you lose because you want to put things right as a player,” said James.

“I think Eastleigh came to do a job on us and set up to stop us playing and they did that well. We weren’t quite at the races but we’ve been on a great run and every now and then you are going to come against a team like that.

“I’ve got a good idea what’s coming at Wrexham. The atmosphere in the first game was something else so I can imagine what it’s going be like there but I love these games that and I’m looking forward to it.”