Steve Burr shares the fans’ enthusiasm for the FA Cup draw but insists the focus must be on points and not prize money or a place in the third round for now.
Having knocked out League Two outfit Southend United in round one, Chester have been handed an even tougher assignment in the second round.
Burr and his side must go to visit League One side Barnsley, who had a season in the Premier League in the 1990s, on the weekend of December 6.
More than 300 supporters went down to Essex last weekend despite long treks to Dover and Eastleigh in the past month but four times that amount are expected to travel to Yorkshire.
Burr understands the excitement but his side have had successive league defeats and the manager wants to arrest that run at home to Gateshead on Saturday (3pm).
Chester have further home games against Bristol Rovers and AFC Telford United, and trips to Dartford and Nuneaton Town before attention switches back to the FA Cup.
Burr said: “It’s a great tie isn’t it when you see some of the ties that came out for non-league sides, it’s probably the best one of the lot.
“We’ll be looking forward to that but there’s a lot of important games before then and we’ve got to put some points on the board between now and the Barnsley game.”
Chester suffered from a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show in the week, losing 3-1 at Macclesfield Town.
Burr feels, with no little justification, the result did not reflect the pattern of the game and rued his team’s inability to convert some fine chances.
“I think It was another step in the right direction for us, not result wise obviously,” said Burr.
“Anybody who knows about football could see that it wasn’t a 3-1 where it’s a poor performance but unfortunately nowadays people look at the result and you’ll probably get criticism for losing.
“It’s sometimes no consolation when you’re telling that to the players when you’ve lost but I really thought the level of our performance was good.”
Burr gave debuts to midfielder Josh O’Keefe and forward Rhys Oates after the pair arrived on loan from Kidderminster Harriers and Barnsley in time for the game at Moss Rose.
Out-of-favour right back Danny Taylor has returned to Colwyn Bay after his contract was cancelled and fellow fullback John Disney has moved to Nantwich Town.
O’Keefe and Oates are both in line for starting spots this weekend with attacking midfielder Sean McConville out after he picked up his fifth booking of the season on Tuesday.
Centre back Michael Kay returns to the squad after a three-game suspension but on-loan forward Matty Hughes remains banned.
Burr said: “I thought Rhys did very well when we went on in the week, he had a bit longer than Josh, but they’ll be good additions for us.
“Gateshead will be a tough side to beat but we are looking forward to that because it’s been a while since we’ve been at home.”
