John Rooney scores this season, Chester win: a simple statistic that has fans hoping he can chip in with a few more goals.

Rooney got his third of the season in the 1-0 win against Gateshead, his others came in wins over Macclesfield Town and AFC Telford United.

All three have been out of the file marked ‘worldies’ and the 23-year-old is more a scorer of great goals than a great goal scorer.

Rooney insists he doesn’t mind being pigeonholed as such so long as the Blues are picking up points.

“As long as we’re winning then it doesn’t matter who’s scoring, winning games is the main thing,” said Rooney.

“I’ve been playing a bit deeper this season with Sean (McConville) in front of me and Kingsley (James).

“Sometimes I prefer playing in a deeper role because you get more time on the ball and you’re more involved.

“If you play as a number 10 then it can be hard to get into the game but at the end of the day as long as you’re playing then that’s all that matters.”

Rooney made his 50th appearance for the club last weekend and has found a home after a nomadic period.

Like older brother Wayne, he started out with Everton but didn’t make the grade at Goodison Park.

John moved to Macclesfield and had started to carve out a promising career but his progress stalled after a move across the Atlantic.

He spent time at New York Red Bulls and Orlando City but came back to the UK in 2012 with unproductive spells at Barnsley and Bury.

Rooney has been an ever present this season and his goal last weekend underlined his quality, smashing a sweet right foot shot past Adam Bartlett to help the Blues make it six games unbeaten at home.

“The ball sat up perfect for me and I hit it first time,” said Rooney.

“It started a bit wide but then it came back in and I saw the keeper dive but I knew he wasn’t getting it.

“In the first half I thought Gateshead were ripping through us and we struggled to deal with them.

“At half time the gaffer changed things up and we matched them.

“We dominated them in midfield in the second half and Matty Brown and Kieran Charnock were different class again at the back and that gave us a lot of confidence.”

Chester entertain Bristol Rovers on Saturday (3pm) and Rooney believes another home win can be achieved.

“Our fans have been great all season and to be fair the fans were great last season too even though we were struggling,” he said.

“The noise from the fans definitely carries over onto pitch, it gives you a lift and we enjoy playing at home.

“We have got a good group of lads here and we all get on with one another.

“You can see that on the pitch with the way that we all fight for each other.

“I don’t think we have got anything to fear from anyone in this league.”