CHIPPENHAM coach Danny Thomas is hoping he will have as strong a squad as possible at his disposal for his side’s vital trip to Avonmouth Old Boys this weekend.

Chippenham find themselves second-from-bottom in National League Three South West after ten defeats on the trot and Thomas’ men face an important hurdle in the battle to put relegation in their rear-view mirror as they take on the Bristol outfit, the last side they tasted victory against back in October.

The Allington Field outfit have struggled to name a consistent line-up so far this season and chief Thomas has his fingers crossed that he’ll have enough firepower to get back to winning ways this weekend.

“It’s a massive game for us really if we want to get ourselves away from the bottom and start catching up the sides above us in the table,” said Thomas, pictured.

“You need to try and win these big games against the side who are near you because if you don’t, it’s easy to end up getting left behind.

“We have been struggling a bit with player availability but this is amateur sport and you have to accept that.

“A few people haven’t been putting their hands up when it comes to that availability and we’ve found it really hard to get a consistent side out there.

“But the performance levels have been improving and we’ve only been losing games by a few scores.

“We’ve got a few important players coming back like Sam Saunders and Lewis Surry, who isn’t too far away.

“We’ve got to go to Avonmouth and give 100 per cent – if we do that, I’m sure we can get the kind of result that we need to help us forget about relegation.”

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