DESPITE his team conceding a late equaliser for the second game in succession, Mark Collier was buoyed by the performance produced by Chippenham Town at Biggleswade Town on Saturday.

After falling behind to an early Inih Effiong penalty when Dan Bowman was penalised for handball, the Bluebirds saw skipper Greg Tindle and the hosts’ Tony Burnett both sent off for clashing shortly before half-time.

Darren Chitty brought down Effiong to hand the Waders a second spot-kick but this time, the Chippenham goalie pulled off a fine save, laying a platform for quickfire goals from Andy Sandell and David Pratt to turn the match on its head.

However, there was still time for the home side’s Callum Lewis to fire home a spectacular long-range effort, ensuring the clash ended 2-2.

“Our performance certainly warranted us winning the game because we played some outstanding football,” said Bluebirds manager Collier, whose team drew 3-3 with fellow high-fliers Slough Town last time out.

“Anyone who was there would take that on board because some of our approach play was fantastic.

“The opposition have decided to play with one up front and play on the counter, which was unusual for us to play against when we’re away from home.

“We’re disappointed not to get three points. We’ve played well enough to win the game and we’ve won a lot a lot of games playing not as good as that – the overriding performance level was outstanding, so it’s disappointing not to win.

“Chitty’s saved a penalty in the second half and that takes you to a stage where the game would be 2-0 and the game would be finished, but he’s pulled off a great save and we need to remember that they could have been out of sight.

“We haven’t closed the shot down in the last few minutes and he’s put one into the top corner, so we’re disappointed with that.

“But, our overall performance was excellent and we’ll only take positives from it.”