DESPITE seven years plundering goals in the league above, hotshot Dave Pratt insists that he doesn’t view his return to Chippenham Town as a backwards step.

Pratt, who turned 29 on Monday, is gearing up for his second spell with Chippenham, having returned to the club after three seasons at Bath City, where he had topped the Romans’ scoring charts every year.

The frontman, who initially spent two years with the Bluebirds before signing for Basingstoke Town in 2009, could have remained at National League South level but Pratt believes that rejoining Mark Collier’s Chippenham in the Evo-Stik League Southern Premier Division is an ambitious move.

“In your career, you don’t get to experience things like promotion very often – I’ve only been promoted once and that was with Mark Collier at Swindon Supermarine about 10 years ago,” said Pratt, who notched six times in pre-season, including a hat-trick in Saturday’s 5-1 win over Melksham Town.

“I don’t see it as a step down. I see it as coming down for one season to try and get promoted back to the same league with Chippenham.

“There’s ambition at the club and they want to push for promotion, and that’s what convinced me to sign on.

“You want to go somewhere where you’ve got a chance to win something because that’s what it’s all about.

“I’ve got a family now and with work and everything like that, it helps that I can travel over with a few other lads from Swindon too.”

Although striker Ben Whitehead has departed to re-sign for Didcot Town, Pratt will compliment fellow proven goalscorers Andy Sandell and Alan Griffin at the sharp end of the Chippenham attack this term.

He added: “Andy Sandell was the joint top goalscorer in the league last season and Alan Griffin is a good striker there, so between the three of us, I think we’ve got a great attack for this league.

“It’s not just about the strikers though because we’ve got a lot of other good players.

“We’ve got a big squad too and having that competition for places really helps. Hopefully, we can do well this season.”