IT MAY have been the result Chippenham Town’s promotion rivals would have wished for, but Mark Collier was delighted to see his team come away from league leaders Leamington with a point.

Dave Pratt’s low finish handed the Bluebirds, who are fifth in the Southern League Premier Division, the advantage midway through the first period before the hosts’ Courtney Baker-Richardson notched in the second period as the two teams played out a 1-1 stalemate.

Chippenham’s defensive resolve was tested but manager Collier was happy with how his troops stood up to the Brakes and thinks that Saturday’s result will prove vital come the end of the season.

“Although it will be a 1-1 draw that will suit the other teams around the top, I think it will be a big point come the end of the season,” said the Bluebirds boss.

“It was a tough old game. It’s a tough place to go at the best of times.

“We decided that we’d go and play on the counter, which managed to suit us, and we’ve got ourselves into a lead with quite an early goal in the second half – you’d expect to come under the cosh then with the home side pegging us back.

“We managed to get a bit of a foothold in the game but saying that, they’ve had the lion’s share of possession.

“I don’t think it’s a game that either team wanted to lose and I don’t think anyone really deserved to win it, but certainly, nobody deserved to lose it – I think it was a decent advert.

“Defensively, we were very strong and the application of our players was outstanding, so I’m chuffed to bits to come away from there with a point.

“Sometimes you’ve got to defend with bodies and get blocks in, and we’ve done that.

“I thought (Greg) Tindle and (Rhys) Baggridge were outstanding, considering we were missing Will Richards.

“We defended well. I’m sure that they’ll be disappointed that they haven’t taken the three points after how much possession they’ve had but they haven’t really created that many chances.

“We’ve taken four points off them in the two games.

“We’ve been looking shaky defensively but we looked a solid, compact unit and we need to carry that on against Weymouth.”

Central defender Will Richards is expected to miss Tuesday’s home clash with Weymouth as he continues to manage a knee niggle but James Guthrie could be back in contention, having missed the Leamington game through illness.