CHIPPENHAM Town manager Mark Collier believes that his side deserve to enjoy their moment in the sun after they went top of the Southern League Premier Division.

The Bluebirds thumped Dorchester Town 4-0 at Hardenhuish Park on Saturday and then discovered that previous leaders Leamington had capitulated 6-0 at home to South Town, elevating Chippenham two points clear.

Dave Pratt notched all four of his team’s goals, the striker notching from two Joe McClennan assists in the first period before converting two more times in the second half, with strike partner Andy Sandell turning provider both times.

Last season, Chippenham’s promotion challenge ran out of steam and they finished five points outside the play-offs, and while there’s still a way to go for Collier’s table-toppers, the Bluebirds boss was delighted to see his troops claim the division’s loftiest perch.

“We changed things around this season and we got Pratt in to play with Sandell, and we knew how important they were,” said Collier.

“We’ve got two very good centre-halves, so the spine of the team is looking strong, and we’ve got a nice mix of youth and experience.

“I think we’ve all learned the lesson from last year of how competitive the division is.

“The chairman (Neil Blackmore) wants us to push on and get into the play-offs, so that was the target, to finish in the top-five, but our ambition is to win the league.

“And if we can’t win, we’ll try to be second and if we can’t be second, we need to be third, and so on.”

Collier added: “We’ve won four on the spin and teams are dropping points around us, so we’re in a good place at the moment but this game has a nasty habit of biting you on the backside when you don’t expect it.

“There are no gimmes in this division. If we lose the next two, then we’re suddenly third or fourth, where we don’t want to be.

“We’re there to be shot at now and we’ve earned that right, so we should embrace it, enjoy it, and hopefully we can take it on and maybe even extend our lead at the top.

“We need to make sure that we enjoy this and then we'll settle down, and start planning for the Redditch game next Saturday.”