CHIPPENHAM Town manager Mark Collier reckons that minutes on the pitch will be the best way for striker Alan Griffin to get back up to speed.

The Bluebirds captain, who had been enduring a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a knee injury, continued his comeback as he made a second successive substitute appearance in Chippenham’s 3-0 win over Banbury United on Saturday.

Griffin still requires surgery but has been given the all clear to return to the fold for the Bluebirds and Collier is pleased to have received a boost to his striking options.

“Griff has been told that he has a bit of an arthritic knee and he will need surgery to clean it up. But the doctors told him that most people that have been playing football since they were ten end up with knees like that,” said the Chippenham manager.

“We’ll need to wait and see when the surgery happens but he’s been pain-free for a few weeks and he’s been given the all-clear to get back playing. We feel that it’ll help him get back to full fitness more by having minutes on the pitch, rather than running him around the training ground.

“The striker we were interested in at Cinderford (Ethan Moore) has decided to turn us down and stay there, which he’s entitled to do, but we’re still talking to (Yate Town’s) Lewis Haldane, so that one’s not dead in the water.

“There’s another striker that we may be speaking to as well but if Griff comes back firing, that may have a bearing on all that.”

Chippenham took an early lead against Banbury last weekend as Luke Ballinger’s shot was diverted past his own keeper, former Swindon Town youngster Leigh Bedwell, by defender Tom Fishwick.

Alex Ferguson fired home shortly before the break after getting on the end of James Guthrie’s cross before the provider turned goal-scorer in the second period, with Guthrie rounding off the victory with his side’s third.

Boss Collier added: “It was good to get back to winning ways. All the components came together for us.

“Anyone who’s been there will know that the performances have been there, even if we’ve not been getting the results in the last few weeks. We’ve still only played 13 league games, so everything’s in front of us.”

Ballinger and Jordan Roberts are doubts for Tuesday night’s home game with Redditch United whilst Bryan Smith misses out after breaking his nose in last week’s Red Insure Cup loss to Paulton Rovers.

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