LUKE Ballinger is keen to let Chippenham Town’s fans know that he and his team-mates are all working together to push their side forward in the Evo-Stik League Southern Premier Division.

Winger Ballinger, who has played more than his fair share of games up front due to the Bluebirds’ current striker crisis, admits that the inconsistency of his team’s results has been a constant source of frustration in recent weeks.

Chippenham were unable to build on Saturday’s comfortable home victory over Banbury United as they lost 2-1 to Redditch United at Hardenhuish Park on Tuesday night.

But Ballinger stressed than nobody cares more about the Bluebirds’ fortunes than the men taking to the pitch themselves.

“Our inconsistency has been frustrating and I think it’s probably been frustrating for the fans too but we do really care – we spent a long time after the game on Tuesday talking about where we went wrong,” said Ballinger.

“The club has had a few tough years but since Mark and Tom have come in, everyone’s behind what they’re doing.

“The thing is, we haven’t been getting the rub of the green but we don’t want it to be ‘oh, we’re the unlucky men’ because we make our own luck.

“We have been missing the goals that Griff (Alan Griffin) gives us but we need to be more clinical. I know that I should have scored more goals than I have done.

“We just need to stick in there and once we get everyone back, try to push on after Christmas. We want to have something to play for, rather than just be in mid-table.”

Ballinger is set to miss this weekend’s clash with Arlesey Town due to his involvement in the England Futsal team’s friendly double-header with Montenegro.

The Chippenham man, whose national side take on hosts Malta, Andorra and Latvia in UEFA Futsal Euros preliminary qualifiers in January, said: “Unfortunately, I’m not the captain anymore but I want to try and get to 100 caps and then concentrate on the football.

“I’m on 78 or 79 now so if I’m playing, I should be able to do that in the next year-and-a-half.”

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