Manager Mark Collier determined Chippenham Town will bounce back from home defeat by Kettering

The Bluebirds missed out on the chance to return to the top of the table as they never recovered from Matt Smith’s first-half sending off for challenging Chris Carruthers from behind, with Collier’s high-flying troops slipping to their sixth defeat of the season.

Spencer Weir-Daley and Wilson Carvalho netted as Kettering ran out 2-0 winners but the Hardenhuish Park chief took plenty of heart from his team’s display with 10 men.

“We’ve played a lot worse than that this season and won games. They went 1-0 up early on and Matt Smith has got himself sent off but after that, I thought our performance was exemplary,” said Collier.

“We’ve created chances and at the end of it, we’re disappointed not to have got something out of it.

“With the red card, their player has tried to shepherd the ball out in the corner and Matt Smith has launched into him.

“It’s one of those where sometimes the referee gives a yellow card but the linesman has called it and he’s sent Matt off. He was disappointed afterwards and we had a word with him but that happened and we had to deal with it.

“With a 1-0 lead, they were able to get men behind the ball to make it difficult for us and then they’ve hit us with a second goal as we were chasing the game later on.

“It’s disappointing but you can’t take anything away from the performance of our players – with 11 men, we get something from the game.”

The promotion-chasing Bluebirds travel to second-from-bottom Paulton Rovers next Tuesday evening (kick-off 7.30pm) and will be without the unavailable Harry Grant and injured Conor McCormack.

Collier added: “It’s going to be a tough game on Tuesday because Paulton Rovers are unbeaten in their last six games and they’re fighting for their lives.

“But if we’ve got any ambitions of finishing in the play-offs, we have to get back to winning ways right away.”