CHIPPENHAM Town chief Mark Collier believes his side let a win slip from their grasp after they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Redditch United on Tuesday night.

The Bluebirds were seeking a victory that would have fired them up to second in the Southern League Premier Division table and got off to a dream start at Hardenhuish Park.

The hosts needed just eight minutes to break the deadlock, with Alex Ferguson heading home Matt Jones’ free-kick after Dave Pratt had been fouled.

However, the Bluebirds’ efforts to grab a second goal were frustrated by a fine display from Redditch goalkeeper Bradley Catlow and the score remained 1-0 at the break.

Chippenham were unable to find a way through in the opening exchanges of the second half either before they were hit by a sucker-punch on the hour.

Against the run of play, Redditch were able to level the scores from the penalty spot, with Michael Taylor felled in the box and Reece Hales’ resulting spot-kick enough to earn the visitors a share of the spoils come the full-time whistle.

“I think it’s a case of two points dropped given the good run of form we have been in,” said Collier.

“We were very good in the first half, we scored an early goal and quickly pushed for the second but their keeper made a number of good saves to keep us at bay.

“In the second half, Redditch improved and were able to get a foothold in the game, although they didn’t really hurt us or cause us too many problems.

“Unfortunately, we made individual mistakes and that led to a free-kick outside the box. From there, we made another error with a rash challenge in the box and they get a penalty, so they end up scoring from what was their only shot on target in the second half.

“The game then became a bit fragmented as we are pushing forwards for the second goal and we went close a couple of times but it was one of those games where it just wasn’t to be our night, unfortunately.”

Although disappointed at a missed chance to claim another victory, Chippenham are still well placed in third in the table and sit just three points behind league leaders Leamington, so Collier will not be getting down in the dumps too much.

“It’s another point on the board against a good side who I am sure will be up there fighting it out for the play-offs come the end of the season,” said Collier.

“We are in excellent form, playing good football and are in a fantastic position after a third of the season.

“There will be highs and lows throughout the year but the most important thing is be got go over the top for the highs and we don’t get too down for the lows.

“We need to stay in the moment and take it one game at a time.”