It was a moment where a dream and a vision was realised. A moment where the collective will of Chester FC supporters was rewarded on a sunny Tuesday evening in Warrington.

A town where rugby league is the name of the game may not have seemed the most likely place for the rebirth of a football club, but Cantilever Park was the venue, August 24, 2010 was the date.

After the demise of Chester City, this was Chester FC's day. When skipper George Horan led Neil Young's Blues side out on to the pitch to rapturous applause from the 1,498-strong crowd, most of which were Chester fans, the fledgling club had already achieved their biggest victory of what was to prove a hugely successful maiden campaign in the Evo-Stik First Division North.

Current Chester FC defender Michael Kay scored the club's 500th goal in all competitions at the weekend, but it was striker Rob Hopley, almost five years to the day on, who started the journey, firing home from 10 yards out with just six minutes on the clock. A moment to savour for player, fans and club.

Warrington turned out to be party poopers to some extent, levelling the contest on 22 minutes. And that was how the scoreline remained, a 1-1 draw for the Blues on their long-awaited return to competitive action, a mere four months on from time being called on the club under its previous guise.

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Any worries Blues fans had they the club may struggle to make their mark at their new level were soon allayed. Chester, under the stewardship of Young, led by inspirational captain Horan and with talismanic Michael Wilde proving deadly in front of goal, were crowned champions at the end of the season, albeit in the most nail-biting of circumstances.

And while the 5-2 defeat at Woking on Saturday was a sobering one, glancing back five years and seeing how far the club have come in such a short space of time puts it into context. Three successive promotions, a return to non-league football's top table and optimism over a potential challenge for a return to the Football League, it has been nothing short of miraculous.

But that game in the Warrington sunshine half a decade ago will live long in the memory for many Blues fans. It was the dawn of a new era, the start of a new chapter. Who knows where the story will end.

Chester XI v Warrington: Whiteside, Aspin, Graves, Horan, Stones, Field (Barnes 72), Peers, Burgess, Hopley (Rogan 80), Wilde, Howard (Sharrock 76). Subs: Williams, Meadowcroft. Booked: Horan.

Attendance: 1,498.

Referee: R Ackers.