CHIPPENHAM Town chief Mark Collier says that he isn’t afraid of continuing to tinker with the Bluebirds’ offensive options in a bid to find his team’s ideal goal-scoring formula.

Collier this week released experienced frontman Darren Edwards, leaving Ashan Holgate, Jack Odam and Mark Francis as his out-and-out striking options whilst Lee Phillips is sidelined following knee surgery.

Alex Ferguson tops Chippenham’s scoring charts whilst fellow midfielder Jordan Roberts was also on target during last weekend’s 2-0 win over Slough Town. Whilst reiterating that his team haven’t scored as many goals as they should have this term, Collier doesn’t see finding the net as a cause for concern.

“Two goals should be enough to win any game in this league. People say that you’re only as good as your front two and I would agree with that but there are also a lot of different ways to score goals,” said the Hardenhuish Park boss.

“You need goals from midfield and you also need to have good enough set-piece delivery for centre-backs to score goals as well.

“We’re here for a long-term job so we’re not scared to change things and bring people in if we think that they can improve the squad because we haven’t scored enough goals.

“I think that Ashan Holgate has been a good replacement for Alan Griffin in terms of power and presence but he’s not as prolific. Mark Francis has misfired a bit and lost a bit of confidence.

“Everyone’s searching for a striker that’s going to give you 25 or 30 goals a season but they come at a premium and are hard to find.

“But we’ve got Luke Ballinger that can play up front and so can Alex Ferguson and Jordan Roberts – they’ve both got two good feet and are brave enough to get themselves in goal-scoring positions.

“We’ve still got one of the better defensive records in the league and we’ve had a good 2015 so far, so there’s plenty to build on as we look to get in the top 10.”

With James Guthrie returning from suspension, Phillips is Chippenham’s only absentee ahead of Saturday’s home clash with Hitchin Town.

Collier added: “Lee Phillips had a little clean-up on his knee and should be fine to return to training in mid-March, so we may see him before the end of the season.”