ANOTHER twist in the FA Cup saga involving Bury and Chester emerged last night when the Gigg Lane club’s manager Chris Casper offered to resign.

Casper and his club failed to follow competition rules, when they played on-loan player Stephen Turnbull in last week’s second round replay against City, an action which led to Bury’s expulsion on Wednesday.

Chester were awarded the tie, restored to the competition and allocated £24,000 in prize money following an inquiry in London.

Casper said: "I offered my resignation, but the directors refused it. We feel that we have acted in an appropriate manner by admitting at an early stage there had been a problem. We thought he (Turnbull) was available. I was under the impression I had a verbal agreement with Hartlepool but the paperwork wasn’t done."

Meanwhile, Chester are in action tonight when travel to Nottinghamshire to face Mansfield Town at Field Mill.

City have won their last three league matches, and are just five points away from a play-off place, but, manager Mark Wright is urging caution.

"There is still a long way to go, but our last three league games have been mightily impressive. If you are in contention at Christmas then you know you can push on.

"If we can keep playing well, then we’ll definitely be in and around the play-off places. Our wins against Boston, Lincoln, and Peterborough have all been very impressive."

Wright continued: "Lincoln and Peterborough were both in play off positions, but to beat them in the way we did was very impressive, so hopefully we can now take that into our next game at Mansfield."

Midfielder Dean Bennett (thigh injury) is a doubt.

Chester City (from): Danby, Palethorpe, Marples, Hessey, Artell, Linwood, Westwood, Bolland, Allen, Sandwith, Vaughan, Hand, Martinez, Wilson, Steele, Blundell, Walters, Semple.