Connor Courtney is aiming to kick on at Ellesmere

The former Shrewsbury Town youngster took the reins alongside experienced boss Richard Brown at Beech Grove in October after Rangers had acquired just two points from their first 12 in the North West Counties First Division South.

Ellesmere were four points adrift of safety and Courtney, 27, in his first managing role – while still available as a player too – insisted that survival was the priority.

And Courtney and Brown guided their side on a superb run throughout November and December, with the highlight a memorable 4-2 Christmas comeback win at runaway leaders and promotion winning – before Covid-19 hit – Vauxhall Motors.

Having put daylight between themselves and the two relegation places, Rangers were unable to sustain their flying form and some tricky results in January and February meant they still had work to do to secure their league status.

Rangers were 18th, one place and one point clear of the drop, when football ceased last week due to the coronavirus, but Courtney is confident his side would have pulled further away from trouble.

"They had two points from 12 games when we came in and the ambition was to stay up and hopefully we would've done that given we had five games against teams around us from the last 10," said Courtney.

"It's a bit gutting for the league to stop, whether you're at the top or the bottom it is good to still have something to play for, I prefer that.

"I feel for teams like Vauxhall Motors who are 12 clear and have put a lot of money into it and FC Oswestry in second too.

"And then there are some clubs at other levels who were going to come down and probably needed to come down to start again."

Courtney moved from league rivals FC Oswestry Town to take up the role at Ellesmere and with him brought in Owen Lloyd as captain at centre-half from his former side.

Other key arrivals have been Dave Howells, Dave Howarth, George Durrell and Kev Renshaw while the boss praised the form of goalkeeper Ash Spittlehouse, who was a shot-stopper with Joe Hart at Shrewsbury Town once upon a time.

Rangers were unfortunate in losing George Taylor to an ACL injury shortly after he signed dual registrations forms from Sporting Khalsa.

The joint-boss has loftier targets than another relegation scrap when the 2020/21 gets underway for his first full season in management.

Courtney said: "We beat Vauxhall, it was the result of the season. After being on a good little Cup run where we beat Didsbury, who brought quite a few fans.

"Next season we can have a better go at it. We would be mid-table from when we started 12 games in. Even if we'd have won four or five of those we could've been higher.

"It's hard to come in mid-season, it takes a few weeks for lads to come and join after seven-day approaches and then you are hit by availability and injuries.

"But I've learned as a manager that it is best to be honest with players.

"We definitely want to push on and will target top 10 next season and any better is a bonus.

"Maybe we could have a cup run, we got to the quarter-final of the Macron Cup which we should've been nowhere near."

Courtney admitted the coronavirus pandemic has affected Rangers with functions unable to take place at Beech Grove, all of which bring vital funds to the club. The boss hopes he is able to keep his squad together next season.