STAR striker Andy Sandell admits he may have been hanging up his boots for good this summer had Chippenham Town not enjoyed such a glorious 2016-17 season.

Sandell joined the Bluebirds two years ago, dropping back into non-league to finish his career after being released by League Two side Newport County.

Since then, it has been goals galore for both Sandell and the Bluebirds, with the former Bristol Rovers and Wycombe Wanderers marksman netting 49 league goals in his two seasons in the Southern League and finishing as Premier Division top scorer on both occasions.

Sandell will turn 34 within a month of the 2017-18 season starting and gave serious consideration to retiring from the game but says talks with manager Mark Collier about Chippenham’s plans for a new life in the National League have but persuaded him to keep going.

“I was weighing up whether or not to retire.

“I thought about it and with the club going up, there will be more travelling involved and I wasn’t sure whether or not I still wanted to do it,” said Sandell.

“In the end, I thought the club have been good to me and my body still works so I will give them whatever I can for another year or so.

“You can never say never but had we not been promoted there was a strong possibility that I would have given up.

“I spoke to the manager and he was asking me nicely not to do it. We talked about next season and for a club that’s been in the Southern League for so long, they have got big ambitions to try to push on again.”

A big part of the Bluebirds’ success this season has been Sandell’s strike partnership with Dave Pratt, who joined the club from Bath City last summer, with the duo bagging 49 league goals between them as Chippenham were crowned Southern League champions.

“We are totally different players but it works well,” said Sandell.

“He is more like Michael Owen whereas I am more of an Alan Shearer.

“He is quite quick and puts himself about a bit, whereas I just stand still and try to find him.

“There is no doubt that I wouldn’t have got half the goals I did get without him.”