Chippenham’s inconsistency continued to be the only reliable aspect of their push for promotion as they lifelessly limped to a 2-1 defeat at struggling Hitchin on Saturday.

Having taken an early lead, the much-needed win to keep them in play-off contention seemed as though it would be a formality until the hosts stunned the Bluebirds with two goals before half-time Looking unrecognisable from the side which earned a draw against league leaders Farnborough and recorded a stunning 3-1 victory over Swindon Supermarine just days before, Adie Mings’ side lacked ideas and never threatened to seriously mount a comeback.

“At 1-0 up we were thinking we could put three or four past them but we just lacked that killer instinct to put them away,” said second half substitute Iain Sercombe.

“No disrespect to them but teams like Hitchin you have got to put away.

“Whenever we put ourselves in the position to go on we just seem to fall short and it’s really frustrating. The lads are all devastated by it.” Left-back Shaun Lamb put Chippenham in front on 12 minutes with a close-range finish after a cross from Luke Gullick.

However from then on Hitchin, themselves battling against relegation, showed greater desire and equalised on the half-hour mark through Jeff Hammond, with a goal that had more than a hint of offside about it.

They took the lead just before the break through full-back Jon Munday and were rarely troubled from then on.

Strikers David Pratt and Sean Seavill worked hard but the visitors kept hitting unsuccessful long balls forward, while Gullick wasted their best chance by blasting over from 12 yards.

“Come the end I suppose we did get a bit desperate,” said Sercombe. “We did have a couple of chances but it’s a shame we put ourselves in that position.

“We seem to lack that nastiness on the pitch to put sides to bed.”

Chippenham Town: Snoddy, Adams, Lamb, Williams, Casey, Allison, Lye, Holly, Pratt (Sercombe 79). Seavill, Gullick (Arnold 71, Halliday 83). Subs: Martin,