GOALKEEPER Kent Kauppinen says that the spark in the Chippenham Town dressing room has been the driving force powering their ‘electric’ title challenge.

Three days after a 2-0 loss at home to Kettering Town last Saturday ended a seven-match unbeaten run in the Evo-Stik League Southern Premier Division, the Bluebirds ground out a 1-0 win at Paulton Rovers on Tuesday to move back level on points with leaders Poole Town.

Kauppinen reckons that the current squad are the most tightly-knit group of players he’s ever known – his team-mates will be coming to watch him fight in a mixed martial arts event in Swindon later this month – and highlights that togetherness as the catalyst for their lofty position.

“The atmosphere is electric on a Saturday and electric when we’re in training – it’s the best dressing room I’ve ever been in,” said the Chippenham keeper.

“We’ve only added a few extra players this year but everybody gets on and we’re all enjoying it, so we all want to get out there and work as hard as we can.

“On Saturday, Matt Smith getting sent off made it hard for us but we were unlucky not to get a win or a draw – we always knew that we’d slip up at some point.

“Paulton made it hard for us on Tuesday but we managed to come back straight away and get a win there.

“We are in a title battle, in my opinion. Poole have been in this position in both of the last two seasons and slipped up. I think that there are only two teams that can catch us – Redditch and Hitchin – but I think that having the points on the board already counts, so we’re in a really good position.”

Kauppinen also thinks that the level of enjoyment the players are getting from their high-flying campaign allows them to enjoy the lighter moments in games, some of which cropped up during Tuesday’s victory at Paulton.

The Bluebirds keeper said: “There was Chrissy Allen’s unreal flip-flap. He nutmegged someone with it too and when it happened, everybody just went crazy.

“There was also Tom Jones (assistant manager) at the end of the game – the whistle went towards the end and he came running onto the pitch, celebrating with his hand in the air. We’d won a free-kick and the game wasn’t over.”