CHIPPENHAM Town boss Mark Collier hailed his side's resolve as Andy Sandell's late penalty earned them a point at Dorchester Town on Saturday.

The Bluebirds trailed to Charlie Davis' second-half penalty, having had Matt Smith sent off in the incident which led to the spot kick, before Sandell also converted from 12 yards in the dying moments after Oli Taylor had been fouled.

The point kept Collier's men in second spot in the table ahead of Tuesday's trip to Paulton Rovers followed by a Boxing Day home appointment with Hungerford Town.

Collier admitted to a tinge of disappointment that his side had not returned from the south coast with three points, having dominated the first 45 minutes, but the manager was delighted with their response to the significant double setback of goal and red card.

"I said to the lads that we've had to play them (Dorchester) twice and we've come away with four points off them, so that's something to be pleased about,'' he said.

"It is a difficult place to go and in the overall picture, a 1-1 draw away from home is a decent result.

"If anything, I'm slightly disappointed we didn't get the three points. We missed some gilt-edged chances in the first half.

"We went down to 10 men and a goal behind with 20 minutes to go but we showed great resolve and spirit to come back.''

Having passed through the midway point of the season, Collier is now anxious for his side to build on their hugely promising opening half of the campaign, with their previous injury crisis beginning to ease.

"Andy Sandell will feel the benefit of that game and he should be ready to gonow and Alex Ferguson got 90 minutes in and Alan Griffin is also looking fitter,'' said the manager.

"We just need to keep picking points up. If we can't win, we need to draw.

"If someone said to any manager that, going into Christmas week, you'd be in second place, every manager would take that.

"But there are things we can improve on and we just need to replicate what we have done in the second half (of the season).''