CHIPPENHAM Town manager Mike Cook blasted his players for “the worst performance since I arrived” following a 2-0 defeat away to Tonbridge Angels in National League South last weekend.

With aspirations of a top-10 finish still achievable despite the result, the Bluebirds head into their weekend off with plenty to think about after a highly disappointing display.

Tommy Wood struck an early blow for Tonbridge before Adam Coombes doubled Angels’ lead in the 60th minute.

A toothless Chippenham failed to find a way past the Tonbridge goalkeeper Jonathan Henley as they dropped to 10th with eight games remaining.

The Bluebirds boss was incredibly frustrated with what he witnessed from his players just days after he treated them to a day out at the Cheltenham Festival.

Cook said: “We were probably due a bad game because we’ve played really well without picking up a lot of points recently.

“It’s been difficult to come in and slaughter them after a game because they’ve actually played quite well. Whether they’ve won, drawn, or lost, those last five or six games haven’t given us much to complain about.

“When we beat Dartford the week before it was almost a culmination of all the missed chances and all the things that we hadn’t quite got right over the previous weeks coming together, and we made the most of it.

“But I think we all relaxed just a little bit too much, we were thinking: “oh, we’ve only got to go to Tonbridge and pick up three points” and of course, it was nothing like that.

“We’ve not played that badly since I came, I don’t reckon. We were terrible in possession and had no intensity when we didn’t have the ball – it was a recipe for disaster.”

Although the Bluebirds’ first team will not be in action this weekend, Chippenham Town will host a friendly against a Manchester United XI at the Thornbury Surfacing Stadium on Sunday afternoon (2pm kick-off).

There are still a small number of tickets available on the day, but over 1,500 tickets have already been sold for the occasion.

Prior to that, on Saturday night United legends Wes Brown and Keith Gillespie will take part in a Q&A session in the Bluebirds Bar.

Cook has been delighted to see such interest in the pair of events as it will provide the club with valuable finances as they aim to stay as competitive as possible.

Further information on the weekend’s events can be found via Chippenham’s website.