Sam Hornby would relish the opportunity to remain at Chester for the remainder of the season.

The 22-year-old goalkeeper joined the Blues in early December on an initial one-month loan from League Two outfit Port Vale and has impressed in recent weeks with some strong performances to keep Alex Lynch out of the side.

Blues boss Marcus Bignot was able to extend Hornby’s deal by another month last week, and the ex-Hednesford and Redditch stopper hopes Chester and Vale can come to an agreement to keep him with the National League outfit until the end of the current campaign, as the Blues look to get themselves out of the bottom four.

“It’s brilliant to stay, I wanted to come out here to play football matches,” the 6”3 keeper said.

“Obviously my chances at Port Vale are limited so it’s important to come here and get some proper football, where it means a lot to the people around the place. I’m happy I’ve got the chance to extend that for another month.

“I’d recommend playing football to all young goalkeepers, get out and play first-team football whether it’s in the league below or the league below that.

“I’ve come through the non-league system, worked my up and I’ve enjoyed every challenge that’s been put in front of me here and in previous years. Just playing football as a keeper is all you need to do as you will get tested physically and mentally at this level.”

Hornby is now with Chester through until the second week in February, but with their home clash with Dover Athletic – meant to be played on February 3 – now postponed due to Dover’s involvement in the FA Trophy, the on-loan stopper may only have three games left before his current deal expires.

Asked if he’d liked to stay at the Deva until the end of the season, he replied: “Yes, definitely. I hope it could get extended even more but if it doesn’t then we’ll cross that bridge when it comes to it, but hopefully both clubs can get it sorted.”

The former Brackley Town and Kidderminster Harriers stopper was in superb form during Chester’s 1-0 defeat at East Thurrock United in the FA Trophy second round tie, preventing the scoreline becoming far worse with a string of saves to deny Rocks forward Sam Higgins.

“It’s disappointing for us as it was a big opportunity to progress, but unfortunately we didn’t win some individual battles over the course of the 90 minutes but we’ve got to bounce back next week,” he explained.

“All the boys try and everyone gives 100 per cent so it was just one of those days where stuff happens. When it does, you’ve got to find a way of getting round each other but we couldn’t quite get that one goal we needed to take it to a replay, but we’ll go again next week.

“I’d have swapped all the saves, I’d much rather I had a quiet game and we win 3-0, but sometimes you’re required to make saves and I’ve managed to do that, but really I’m just doing my job in the team.”

Bignot urged caution regarding the goalkeeping situation moving forward when pressed on the matter, citing the financial constraints on Chester as reason to temper enthusiasm at this stage.

“We’ve not been bad in terms of the people we’ve brought in and we’ve now got two very competent goalkeepers,” he said.

“We’ve got Sam for the short-term, it’s not an ideal situation as it’s one of the most important positions on the football field, you want it settled in terms of having two really good keepers going for it and trying to claim the number one spot.

“As we are with the rest of the squad we’ll see where we are. Of course it would’ve been nice to go through (in the Trophy) as I’d have loved to bring a player in, that sort of prize money, we could have added a player to this group.

“The player we’ve identified would really help the group. You look at Hall-Johnson, Gough, Archer, Hornby, they’ve added a lot and not having that money is a blow.”

Meanwhile, Chester have opted not to appeal Gary Roberts’ sending off at East Thurrock.

The 30-year-old saw red for an 81st minute tackle on Max Cornhill and having reviewed the footage, the Blues don’t feel they have a strong case to overturn the decision, therefore Roberts will be suspended for the next three matches.

n Chester will not be switching next Tuesday’s home fixture versus Hartlepool, meaning Saturday, February 3 will be a free weekend for the Blues after their Dover Athletic fixture was postponed.