CHIPPENHAM Town chief Mark Collier praised his side’s strength of character after their made light of a midweek blip at Banbury to triumph 2-1 at promotion rivals Dunstable Town on Saturday.

The Bluebirds were made to pay for a slow start when they went down by the same scoreline in their previous outing but hit their straps early in Bedfordshire.

Dave Pratt broke the deadlock inside five minutes for Chippenham before Andy Sandell put them two goals to the good from the penalty spot after Pratt had been felled.

Dan Green brought the home side back into it on the half-hour mark but Chippenham remained solid after the break to ensure they travelled home with all three points.

“We started particularly well, although we lost Nuno Felix, our left-back, after five minutes with a bit of a thigh strain so we had to re-organise the back four, which is not great so early in the game,” said Collier.

“It was almost a reverse of Tuesday. We were quickly into a two-goal lead and at half-time it was back to 2-1 but we were comfortable.

“They came on strong in the last 20 minutes when they went four up front. They have got a lot of size and physicality and threw balls into the box but I was pleased with how we dealt with it.

“Sometimes you have to fight your corner and we did that in no uncertain terms.

“We were always going to be a threat on the break with Sandell and Pratt and we were unfortunate not to get a couple more goals late on as their keeper made a couple of decent saves.”

The result saw Chippenham pull clear of one of the sides they are likely to be fighting it out with in the race for promotion come the end of the campaign and Collier was particularly pleased with the mental strength shown by his side.

“It was fourth at home to third and we’re the one who have picked up three points,” said Collier.

“We knew it would be a difficult place to go and we had several out through injury too, so it’s a great result on the back of an indifferent performance against Banbury.

“We need to have some resolve and determination if we want to be successful this year and we certainly showed that.”