IT REMAINS to be seen just how long Alan Griffin’s Chippenham Town return will last but manager Mark Collier was nonetheless delighted to see the striker back with a bang at Bideford.

Almost a year ago, injury forced the 32-year-old striker to step away from Southern League football, with Griffin rejoining Wiltshire League outfit Malmesbury Victoria, where he is now player-manager.

But the experienced frontman rejoined the Bluebirds on a dual registration deal and had an instant impact as he latched on to a first-half Michael Pook cross to net the only goal of the game in Tuesday’s victory down in North Devon.

Griffin provided attacking cover at a crucial time for Chippenham chief Collier, with Ollie Taylor unavailable and both Ashan Holgate and Lee Phillips injured, but what happens next is yet to be decided.

“Ashan Holgate will be out for about three months and Ollie Taylor was unavailable because of his work commitments, so we needed some cover in that area – Lee Phillips only just started running again on Saturday,” said Collier.

“I’ve kept in contact with Griff and he’s been at the ground to watch a few games. He agreed to help us out and that was great for us because we know what we’re going to get with Alan Griffin.

“We got 60 minutes out of him and he scored the winning goal, so we’re delighted with that. He still needs to manage his knee but it gives him a lot less trouble since he’s been playing at a lesser level.

“He’s manager of Malmesbury and that will be his priority, and I’ve yet to have a conversation with him about what happens going forward but I will be doing that.”

Griffin wasn’t the only old face to provide a helping hand at the last moment on Tuesday, with defender Shane Blackmore, son of Hardenhuish Park chairman Neil, also featuring to help ease the Bluebirds’ defensive headaches against Bideford.

Collier said: “Mark Preece had a one-match ban and Jon Beeden, who’s the centre-half behind Preece and Greg Tindle, broke a bone in his collar against Dunstable on Saturday.

“Charlie and Jamie Norman are up-and-coming centre-backs but with the time we were leaving, they were also unavailable. I spoke to some clubs about getting someone in on loan but nobody was available.

“Shane has taken some time to go and play American football but he’s a decent defender and he did very well.”

CHIPPENHAM Town Ability Counts travelled to Swindon and came away with five points.

Chippenham’s standout performance saw them come back from 4-1 down against Highworth to draw 4-4 and their goalscorers were Shane Isaac, Chris Hornsby, Robert Thatcher, Mathew Blacker and returning captain Ashley Maunder.