CHIPPENHAM Town boss Mark Collier highlighted the hard work his side will face in the coming weeks, despite beating bottom club Whitehawk 3-1 on Saturday.

An own-goal on 15 minutes by Kodi Lyons-Foster meant Chippenham led Whitehawk by a single goal at half-time.

Alex Ferguson netted Town’s second following the restart before Elliot Benyon halved the deficit with 10 minutes remaining.

Karnell Chambers quickly re-established Town’s two-goal lead though as Collier’s men wrapped up the three points.

The timely win established a four-point gap between 17th-placed Chippenham and relegation-bound Poole Town in 20th – though Poole have a game in hand.

And Collier was the first to admit his side cannot afford to get complacent with nine league games remaining.

“We know we’ve got some hard work in front of us. But we’re certainly up for the fight,'' he said. “At the same time I want the lads to embrace it and enjoy it.

“It’s been a difficult time for us with the weather. But the lads have stuck together and worked hard.

“This win can lead us into the last nine games. Hopefully we can get another three or four wins to secure our status.

“We’ve got some big characters in the dressing room which has always helped our cause.

“It’s important to keep spirits high and we have players coming back from injury which is good.”

Though Whitehawk require a win from nearly all their remaining nine games to avoid relegation, the club had earned six points from the four games building up to Saturday’s fixture and Collier added any ‘lazy fan’ would’ve been wrong to presume three points were a given for his side.

“It was going to be a difficult game for us,” he said. “We changed our system and three personnel within that system.

“Credit to the lads, they’ve took the new system on board and worked their socks off. It’s a good three points for us.

“A couple of months ago we would have come to Whitehawk thinking we’d get three points. But they’ve made good signings and are now always a threat.

“It was a potential banana skin as they’re a team in form. But we knew we’d been playing well and just needed a lucky break.

“When you score three goals away from home you’d like to think you’re always going to win the game.

“We got a bit of breathing space when scoring the second but the penalty made us start to fear the worst.

“Our fresh legs got us through the last 10 minutes with no problems though.”

Chippenham are next in action at home on Saturday against Weston-super-Mare before a Tuesday night midweek fixture against Concord Rangers on March 20.