CHIPPENHAM Town chief Mark Collier reflected on both the positives and the negatives of his side’s succession of stalemates after the Bluebirds drew 1-1 at Cambridge City this afternoon.

Chippenham notched up their sixth draw in a row in the Evo-Stik League Southern Premier Division, with defender Mark Preece heading Collier’s men in front midway through the first half before Buster Harradine’s deflected second half strike found the net in the 77th minute.

The Bluebirds manager was pleased with his team’s display and Collier is keeping his glass half-full ahead of Monday night’s trip to Hitchin Town.

“Cambridge is never an easy place to go and we’re pretty happy to settle for that today,” he said.

“We didn’t start particularly well at all but we got a goal through a Mark Preece header from a James Guthrie corner.

“Both sides then had some chances but we felt quite comfortable up until we didn’t clear a corner properly and one of their guys has had a shot which has taken a deflection and looped in.

“It’s another draw. We’re disappointed that we didn’t get the three points we thought we deserved but it also shows that we’ve become hard to beat.

“If we couldn’t get six points from these two games, our target was four points, so we’ll just have to try and win the game on Monday.

“It’s going to be tough though, especially because Hitchin have just beaten top-of-the-league Poole – I imagine we’ll find them in quite good spirits.”

Full-back Conor McCormack misses Monday’s trip to Hitchin after being forced off with an ankle injury against Cambridge.

CHIPPENHAM TOWN: Kent Kauppinen, Conor McCormack (Toby Osman 75), Jon Beeden, Bryan Smith, Greg Tindle, Mark Preece, Jordan Roberts, Mark Francis (Michael Pook 70), Alan Griffin, Alex Ferguson, James Guthrie.

Subs not used: Iain Harvey, Darren Edwards, Luke Ballinger.