DARREN Perrin described Saturday's second-half performance as "shambolic" as Bedford Town became the first team to complete a league double over the Bluebirds this season.

On an afternoon of Southern League surprises which saw Halesowen Town tame Salisbury City at the Roy McEnhill Stadium, the Eagles' victory leaves just four points between the top six sides in the division.

Perrin left The Eyrie irate that his Blues, still top of the league by a point, had missed a golden opportunity to put daylight between themselves and the chasing pack.

He said: "I thought we were awful. The second half performance was shambolic. We should have dictated the game in the second half with the elements in our favour.

"Both myself and Adie were extremely disappointed. I will always be the first to defend my players but I could not do that on Saturday.

"They let themselves down, the management down, the fans down and most of all they let Chippenham town Football Club down."

Blues hitman Dave Gilroy fired the Hardenhuish outfit into an early lead. Gilroy raced onto Matt Rawlins' through ball and drove the ball beyond the desperate dive of Eagles stopper Ian Brown.

Rene Howe headed over for Bedford midway through the first half as the hosts began to gather momentum. When Chippenham lost midfielder Mark Badman through injury on the half hour mark it sparked a wave of Bedford attacks.

Howe was causing no end of problems fand it was no surprise when he levelled for the home side on the stroke of half-time. Steve Perrin did well to parry one shot but Howe reacted quickly to tuck the rebound away.

Chippenham were reduced to long shots in the second half as Bedford dominated both possession and territory. The game was won after 65 minutes when Bonner planted a thumping header past Perrin to register his first goal for the Eagles.

A late rally from the Bluebirds saw substitute Nick Stanley head just wide from Ian Herring's corner, but it turned out to be another frustrating afternoon on the road for Darren Perrin.

"In the last few away games we have failed to grasp the initiative, said Perrin. "This league is going to go right down to the wire. We are still in a good position but it could have been so much better than it is."