STRIKER Lee Phillips is backing the Bluebirds to flourish under their revamped system and make waves in the Southern League Premier Division this season.

The Chippenham management have worked on a new 4-4-2 diamond formation over the summer and Phillips, who opened his account for the season in Saturday’s win at Biggleswade Town, thinks that his side’s flexibility can only benefit their chances of putting teams to the sword.

“I think that everyone is buying in to the way that Mark (Collier) and Tom (Jones) have got us playing,” said Phillips.

“The diamond in midfield means that the full-backs can bomb forward and we’ve got plenty of technical young players in there, apart from Iain (Harvey), who’s about 60 – he can do a great job taking care of things in front of the defence and Bryan (Smith) can play there too.

“There’s still Guths (James Guthrie) to come back as well and he’d be a boost for any side.

“I’d got three in three before Monday and I’m pretty happy with how I’ve been playing. Long may that form continue because we’ve got plenty of different people that can play up front too.”

The Bluebirds were unable to pick up points on the road for the second time in three days as they slipped to a 2-1 loss at Redditch United on Monday evening but Phillips sees no reason for Chippenham’s heads to drop.

He added: “It was just a 15-minute spell at the second half where we didn’t switch on and there was no ranting and raving because we know what mistakes we made.

“I thought that we were absolutely brilliant (at Biggleswade) on Saturday and we only came under pressure for ten minutes or so.

“It’s only the start of the season and there are so many games left to play, so I don’t think it’s a bad start at all – we’re just looking foward to our first home game of the season on Saturday.”

After a goalless first period, Redditch hit a purple patch early in the second period, with striker Jamie Molyneux first poking past Kent Kauppinen to put the Worcestershire hosts ahead.

Molyneux then capitalised on a mix-up at the back to make it 2-0 just before the hour mark and despite Phillips and Alex Ferguson combining late on to allow up defender Shane Blackmore, who had been pushed up front, to reduce the deficit, it was too little, too late for Chippenham.

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