SKIPPER Greg Tindle insists Chippenham Town have acclimatised well to their new environment after being promoted to National League South.

Mark Collier’s side are 12 games into their debut season at the level, with 15 points to show for their efforts.

However, the Bluebirds captain believes the club are better than the league table suggests, with them currently in 12th place, and reckons that if they had made the most of some winning positions, they could be closer to the play-off spots.

While individual errors have cost the side, Tindle feels encouraged by the club’s start and insists they can only get better from here.

“We’ve had a bit of a mixed start. We have had some ups and downs and it is obviously a far better league,” said Tindle, whose side enjoyed their best win so far this term with a 5-1 thumping of Hemel Hempstead Town at Hardenhuish Park on Saturday.

“Teams are much more clinical and mistakes that maybe would have gone unpunished last year, we are being punished for this year.

“Having said that, in all of the games bar Braintree, where we were well under-par, we have been more than competitive.

“We could be five or six points better off. We were 2-0 up at home to East Thurrock United, so you would think we would win that, and Weston-super-Mare was the same away from home.

“A couple of individual errors have cost us and we could be better off, in which case, we’d have made a fantastic start to the season.

“We haven’t really hit top form or had a run, but I am sure that will come sooner or later.”

The central defender has relished the improved level of football, but admits it has come with its challenges.

After making the step up, Tindle says the unfamiliarity of the new opponents has been a stumbling block, but reiterates the Bluebirds aren’t afraid of the unknown.

“We were in the Southern League for a long time and personally, you know more or less all the players in the league,” he added.

“So it’s a bit of an unknown. Obviously, Mark (Collier) has tried to watch teams when he can but that isn’t always feasible.

“Another thing that is a lot more prominent is you have to be a lot more tactically aware, it’s not just a case of selecting 11 players and chucking them out on the pitch.

“The league is that little bit more professional. There is a lot of financial clout in the league, but I think we’ve made a positive start.”