CHIPPENHAM Town left it late before putting Gloucester City to the sword at Hardenhuish Park.

Mark Collier’s Bluebirds recorded their third consecutive win with a 1-0 triumph over their vistors, thanks to a goal from James Guthrie.

The victory moves the National League South side up into the play-off positions and the Chippenham manager says it is important his side make the most of their good fortune.

“We are in good form. There are still players who are injured and they’ll come back,” he said.

“We are in a good place, I know it is very early but we are doing well.

“There will be times where you will lose two or three games on the spin, I have no doubt that will happen.

“While you’re in good form and you’re in good fortune, you need to make the most of those opportunities.

“Before the game I warned the players that Gloucester are a good side and this league has a habit of biting you on the backside, so we needed to prepare and make sure mentally, we are right.

“I’m happy for teams to out-play us, but I never want a team to out-work us.”

Chippenham’s goal came deep into the second half, and while Collier says his side were forced to wait for their breakthrough he says they were good value for the win.

“We didn’t play that well in the first half to be honest,” he added.

“Gloucester were very defensive and they sat back and tried to hit us on the counter attack.

“They haven’t scored many goals this season and they haven’t conceded many either .

“They flooded midfield, played with two wide men and didn’t really have a central striker.

“Long balls out from their back four were a threat. It took us a bit of time to get to grips with them doing that, we did that and scored.

“I always thought we were going to score and it was just a case of waiting for the chance to come.

“We remained patient and that was the key. We moved things around and brought some substitutes on and then the free-kick got us the goal.

“Maybe we were a bit lucky but sometimes you need that bit of luck and I think if anyone was going to win the game, it was going to be us.

“It did look like it could have ended 0-0 but credit to the players because they kept working and they got their rewards.''