MARK Collier was over the moon to see his Chippenham Town side go ton-up at Basingstoke Town and keep their title charge on track on Saturday.

Andy Sandell’s 33th strike of the season, which proved to be the match-winner as the Bluebirds triumphed 2-1 at the Camrose, was the 100th goal scored by Collier’s Southern League Premier Division table-toppers in all competitions this season.

Matt Smith fired home from long-range after latching on to a wind-assisted clearance from a corner before parity was restored as Basingstoke made it 1-1 through Ashley Artwell, who followed up after Dan Collier’s strike, which was also enhanced by the blustery conditions, was spilled by Darren Chitty.

But the scoring was completed all inside 13 minutes as Sandell got on the end of another clearance that was held up in the swirling air and was able to drift past two defenders and goalkeeper Alex Tokarczyk to convert and slay the Dragons.

“I said to the chairman (Neil Blackmore) after the game: ‘that’s our 100th goal of the campaign and you asked for some attacking football at the start of the season, and I said that I’d stick by that’, and rightly so,” said Collier.

“To score 100 goals in all competitions is a fantastic return.

“(David) Pratt and Sandell have got the bulk of those goals but 50 goals have come from somewhere else, so it’s been a great return from everybody.

“That’s maybe the icing on the cake but it’s the points we want and we’ve got three more to go add to our growing total.

“We knew that we’d come up against a good side that are full-time, so they’d have a good shape about them.

“The crowd were there in force behind the goal and they were urging us on, so that’s particularly pleasing.

“Leamington have dropped a couple of points and Merthyr have lost at in-form Frome, so they’ve gone our way.”

Captain Greg Tindle and Joe McClennan both missed the game through illness, although the former was fit enough for a place on the bench, but should be available when Chippenham host Dunstable Town next weekend.

Bluebirds boss Collier added: “Every game’s getting bigger as the weeks go on. We just need to keep on being professional and keep on churning out those performances, and if we can do that and win more than we lose, then hopefully we’ll be somewhere handy.

“We’ve got some good characters in the dressing room – we’ve got a nice mix of some young ones and some experienced ones.

“It’s all going together and there appears to be a desire to keep this unbeaten run going, and if we do that, it could take us to anywhere we want to go.”