BOSS Mark Collier was left with plenty of food for thought after Chippenham Town's friendly defeat at near neighbours Swindon Supermarine this afternoon.

Goals either side of half-time from the hosts' Josh Morse and Dan Drewitt saw the Bluebirds, who experimented with their line-up throughout the second period, beaten in their second pre-season friendly of the summer.

Collier said: “We're disappointed with the way that we played in the first half.

“We've got a new system that we're trying and some of the players aren't comfortable with that yet, which we're aware of, and these are the games to try it out in.

“We've got three or four games left and there are no points on offer, so we'll try things out and continue to do that until the last couple of friendlies.

“You mustn't get frustrated because it is a friendly. Our pride has to be in our performance and that's what we look for.

“There were some positives to come out of today but don't get me wrong, there were some negatives too.

“It's not always easy to get the players you want at this time of the year. Some players are trying at other clubs but we're hopeful that we can do something.

“We're comfortable with where we are at the back and we're yet to see Jordan Roberts in midfield – we know he's got a lot about him.

“Alan Griffin has scored 20 goals a season for however long and I trust that he'll do that again and we need to make sure that him and Lee Phillips are ticking over for the start of the season.”

After Lee Phillips' strike was charged down early on by Marine keeper Gary Stephens, the home side took the lead with 14 minutes on the clock, with winger Josh Morse curling into the side-netting after latching on to Bradley Gray's lay-off.

The two sides largely cancelled each other out until nine minutes into the second half, when Alan Griffin brought down Jon Beeden's ball and fired just wide of the target on the turn.

In the 69th minute, Chippenham saw another chance to get back on level terms go begging as they were awarded a penalty after Marine skipper Dave Bampton was penalised for handball in the area but Phillips blazed the spot-kick over the bar.

The visitors dominated possession in the closing stages but with five minutes remaining, Drewitt nicked the ball off Tyron Leigh and with Kent Kauppinen off his line, the Marine man deftly clipped the ball over the goalie's head from all of 35 yards.

This afternoon's meeting between local rivals Chippenham and Marine also saw around £750 raised towards the rehabilitation of injured midfielder Rob Dean, who suffered a career-ending knee dislocation whilst playing for the Bluebirds in March.

Former Chippenham player Sam Allison refereed the meeting free of charge, with Dean, who played for both clubs, in attendance alongside his family and friends.

Chippenham manager Collier added: “We'd done quite a lot of fund-raising but the (Marine) chairman Jez Webb had written to Neil (Blackmore) with the offer of a friendly, where we could help Rob out with his rehab because it's expensive.

“Rob's coming on alright and hopefully we can see him running about one day.”

CHIPPENHAM TOWN: Kent Kauppinen, Conor McCormack (Toby Osman 50), Shane Blackmore (Jon Beeden 50, Tyron Leigh 67), Matt Coupe, Greg Tindle, Bryan Smith (Ben Pring 76), Ellis Dunton (Callum Wright 20), Luke Ballinger (Pete Monks 55), Alan Griffin (Omar Simpson 58), Lee Phillips, James Guthrie.

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