MARK Collier was hoping that lady luck will begin to shine on his Chippenham Town side when they lock horns with local rivals Frome Town at Hardenhuish Park on New Year's Day (kick-off 3pm).

The Bluebirds’ winless run in the Evo-Stik League Southern Premier Division stretched to eight games with their 2-1 defeat at Paulton Rovers on Boxing Day and Collier reckons that his team haven’t been getting the rub of the green of late.

But with struggling Frome next up for his side, the Chippenham chief is hoping his players are ready to roll up their sleeves and bring about a change in their fortunes to kick off the new year on the front foot.

“I was concerned with the way we played at Bideford (a 5-0 loss on December 20) and the players accepted that wasn’t good enough but we were much better against Paulton and just didn’t get that bit of luck that we needed,” said Collier.

“It is going to be tough against Frome because it’s a local derby and they’re scrapping for points but hopefully we can perform well enough to get a good result.

“We’re without Kent (Kauppinen), so Conor Thompson will come in – he’s done particularly well in training so we’ve got no qualms about that.

Midfielder Jordan Roberts is an injury doubt ahead of today’s derby.

The Bluebirds had Iain Harvey sent off in Somerset last weekend, with former Chippenham winger Jon Davies putting Paulton ahead early in the second period.

Rovers’ Scott Wilson made it 2-0 from the penalty spot with 57 minutes gone.

Two minutes later, Michael Pook reduced the deficit with his first Chippenham goal but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Bluebirds returning to Wiltshire with nothing to show for their efforts.