CHIPPENHAM manager Mark Collier was left with mixed feelings after the Bluebirds drew 0-0 with Corby at Hardenhuish Park on Saturday.

The goalless stalemate in tricky conditions extended Chippenham’s run to three unbeaten in the Southern League Premier Division.

Collier was much more pleased with his team’s efforts in the second period than he was with the opening 45 minutes.

He said: “I thought that we just lacked a bit of spark in the first half.

“We said to them at half-time that we needed to play with a little more oomph and aggression in our play, which I thought we did.

“Overall, we’ve got a disappointed dressing room because we thought we should have won the game.

“We haven’t scored the clear-chances we made but we’ve been nice and compact, tight and organised, and 0-0 is just about the right result.

“Defensively, we haven’t been fantastic recently and we’ve worked on getting people in the right positions and the right areas so that teams don’t break on us.

“We were wary that they were very good on the counter and they’d won their last three away games by playing in that manner.

“Ben John’s only had one good save to make so that’s positive.”

Former Swindon Supermarine striker Luke Hopper made his second debut for the Bluebirds on Saturday after his international clearance went through earlier in the week.

Previously at Hardenhuish in 2007, Hopper spent most of last year at Dandenong Thunder, the Australian club where a number of Supermarine players have played in recent seasons.

Collier continued: “We’ve created a good chance for Hopper but he says that he’s just had a little bobble in the goalmouth. Strikers always say that though, don’t they?

“He gets hold of the ball well and he brings some competition to the strikers.”