Andy Firth will consider his options at parent club Liverpool but would love to make a return to Chester next season.

The 21-year-old was thrown into the Blues first-team in early March after regular number one Sam Hornby was recalled by Port Vale, and the on-loan Liverpool keeper made an instant impact at the Deva, making 11 appearances and securing two man-of-the-match awards.

Impressing with his shot-stopping and calmness in possession, Firth also doubled up as goalkeeping coach for Marcus Bignot after Dave Felgate was forced to leave the club due to Chester’s financial off-field woes.

Firth is now weighing up his options, having been offered a one-year contract extension with the Premier League club, but a taste of regular football has left him craving more.

“I’ve been offered a new deal at Liverpool, but I’ve not decided what I’m doing next,” he said.

“I could sign but I have explained to them I want to be playing every week now. I spoke to our goalkeeping coach John Achterberg (ex-Tranmere keeper) and he said he understood how I felt and that’d I’d got the bug for first-team football. Last Saturday was rubbish as it was the first Saturday without a game for a couple of months!

“The offer is on the table, but the ball is in my court and I may look elsewhere to try and secure a first-team spot somewhere. But there is an option to sign with Liverpool and go out on-loan too.”

Firth made plenty of friends during his loan spell at Chester, regularly seen mixing with supporters after home matches, win, lose or draw, and asked if he’d return, he replied: “If something came up at Chester with the new manager then 100 per cent I’d want to go back there.

“Off the pitch it’s been a hard time for the club, there’s been a lot of players leaving but on a personal note I really enjoyed my time with the club.

“It’s been nice to go out and get a run of games, you need to do that at any level. I’ve loved every minute of it and I’m grateful to the club for giving me an opportunity.

“The fans could have turned it in towards the end, but they always stuck by us players and they showed their strength by coming in great numbers for the last home match of the season.

“I never felt the fans were against us in any way, so to be able to reward them with a couple of wins was nice.”

Can Chester bounce back at the first attempt and gain promotion out of National League North? The Ripon-born stopper believes it’s achievable.

“It needs the right people in the right places,” he continued.

“If they can get the right manager in, someone who is able to build a good squad and bring in some good players then there’s no reason why Chester can’t try and challenge to get straight back up.

“No one has downed tools. The fanbase, ground, it’s all there, it just needs some money spent in the right areas and a manager who can unite the football club. If that happens the fans will turn up and support the team.”

Firth highlighted the goalless draw with Aldershot Town and the away win at Barrow as the highlights of his time with the Blues.

“Aldershot was a strange one as it felt like they had 99 per cent possession! But it was a nice feeling to make some saves which meant we got a point,” he added.

“The lads defended so well off the ball that day, even if we didn’t see much of it. To get man-of-the-match was brilliant.

“The two wins really stick out. Bromley was my first win in a Chester shirt, it was a good game and to make the double save at the end after Brownie’s wonderful goal was great to make such a big impact.

“Barrow felt like a boss day for the whole club. We got an away win with a very young team, Tom Crawford got his first goal, Calum (McIntyre, caretaker boss) got a win and people just generally had smiles on their faces.”