CHIPPENHAM Town finished the Southern League Premier Division campaign with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Paulton Rovers, condemning the Somerset side to prop up the end-of-season table.

Two second-half goals in the space of a minute from Alex Ferguson following Alan Griffin’s opener provided plenty of cheer for the travelling Norwegian branch of the Bluebirds supporters’ club.

Mark Collier’s home side dominated the opening half but were unable to find a way past former Town keeper Ben John, who thwarted Ben Whitehead and Andy Sandell inside the opening 10 minutes.

Griffin and Whitehead both failed to hit the target for the hosts, whilst Paulton skipper Darren Mullings was also off-target with the visitors’ only serious effort of the first half.

After the break, Sandell, who needed one goal to become the outright leading scorer in the division, saw a diving header go wide.

However, the Bluebirds did not take much longer to break the deadlock as Griffin hit the net on 53 minutes when the Paulton defence failed to cut out Sandell’s long throw.

Five minutes later, Ferguson caught John off his line and neatly chipped the ball into the net before repeating the trick a minute later for Chippenham's third.

Moments later, Whitehead fired high, while Greg Tindle was also off target with a headed effort.

John again thwarted Sandell a quarter of an hour from time and the Paulton keeper also did well to parry a shot from Tindle, with the referee ignoring claims for a penalty as Sandell appeared to be fouled as he looked to follow up.

Home keeper Kent Kauppinen was finally called into action three minutes from time as he pulled off a smart save, while the final action saw Sandell flick aneffort just over the bar.

At the final whistle, Bluebirds skipper Tindle was announced as the supporters’ player of the season.

Chippenham Town: Kauppinen, Allen, Beeden (Jones 75), Pook, Tindle, Preece, Ferguson (Guthrie 75), Smith, Griffin (Campbell 65), Sandell, Whitehead. Subs not used: Grant, Fiddes.

Referee: Ron Ganfield (Weston-super-Mare)

Attendance: 317