Chester FC boss Steve Burr has an idea of the players he wants to keep for next season but contract talks are on the back burner until National League status has been secured.
The club last week finalised an excellent piece of business with a new deal for 18-year-old Sam Hughes but following the 3-0 defeat at Wrexham on Saturday the manager understandably feels he and his squad must focus on keeping themselves out of the bottom four.
Ben Heneghan, understood to be interesting clubs in Scotland and the Football League, top scorer Ross Hannah and Ryan Astles are among those fans would like to see remain, and Burr has held preliminary discussions with the board with a view to keeping hold of the club's best assets.
However, with two games that can be considered winnable over the Easter weekend against Barrow and Guiseley, the immediate priority has to be securing the points needed to ensure the Blues remain clear of the drop zone.
"I think the main thing is to concentrate on getting safe in this division before we look at things we need to do", said Burr.
"There's already things I have put to the board about players I'd like to keep for next season but at the minute I think the main thing is concentrating on these last remaining games and we have to make sure we're in this division next season."
Chester welcome a Barrow side who beat them 3-2 in a five-goal thriller back in October on Saturday with Paul Cox’s Bluebirds unbeaten in five games.
The Blues have a quick turnaround with a visit to Nethermoor on Easter Monday to face Guiseley, who drew 1-1 at the Lookers Vauxhall Stadium in August, with the Lions two points and two places below Steve Burr’s team in the table.
Ryan Astles will miss the Barrow game as he completes a one-match ban after his red card against Wrexham with Ian Sharps returning to partner Ben Heneghan.
Jordan Chapell (ankle) is a doubt and Luke George (hamstring) remains side-lined but Tom Shaw or John Rooney could come back into the side after performing well in training.
Chester know Easter gives them an excellent opportunity to move clear of the relegation places and it as a chance Burr wants to grasp.
“It’s the next game so we have to focus on that and on getting three points against Barrow and it’s going to be a tough one,” he said.
“Ryan’s obviously going to be missing and it looks like we’ll be without Chappy and it’s another big game for us.”
