CHIPPENHAM Town manager Mark Collier is certain that it will take until the final throes of the season for the picture at the top of the Evo-Stik League Southern Premier Division to become truly crystal clear.

The Bluebirds recovered from a two-goal deficit to rescue a point at home against Chesham United on Tuesday and find themselves third in the table, two points behind leaders Redditch United and Poole Town and level with fourth-placed Hitchin Town.

Just four points separate a nerve-wrackingly tight top six but boss Collier thinks that Chippenham should be proud to be in the thick of that mix and hopes that his charges will be able to draw on the depth of character they showed against Chesham again as the campaign lurches towards its conclusion.

“I think things are going to go right down until the final two weeks of the season, I really do” said Collier.

“You can give yourself a headache trying to look at what fixtures other teams have got left. Most of those teams in the top six or seven have got to play each other and there are rumours that Redditch could lose points for their misdemeanours (Redditch have been charged by the FA for playing two ineligible players) too.

“You have to think that any team that goes on a run could win the league.

“I’ve said this before but there are nine or 10 teams in our division that have played in the Conference South or Conference North and we should be very happy to be where we are at this moment in time.”

Ryan Blake fired Chesham ahead at Hardenhuish Park on Tuesday before Kelvin Bossman capitalised on a misplaced clearance from goalie Kent Kauppinen to put the Generals 2-0 up but Alan Griffin turned home from a corner early in the second period before skipper Greg Tindle headed home the equaliser.

The Chippenham chief said: “I was absolutely delighted with the performance to come back and it’s a shame that we were caught out by a poor 25 minutes in the first half.

“There were some chosen words at half-time, we changed the system, and the players showed some superb character, and we should have gone on to win the game.”