CHIPPENHAM gave themselves a fighting chance of climbing off the bottom of the National Three South West table before the end of a difficult season by edging a thriller against basement rivals Old Patesians on Saturday.

With more than 120 former players at Allington Field for a lunch prior to kick-off, Chippenham trailed 28-20 at half time as the points piled up in a breathless affair.

Sam Saunders landed a penalty for the home side and tries from Aaron Clark, a sniping effort from Lewis Surry and Brad Doggett's effort, converted by Saunders kept them in touch.

The second half saw Chippenham grow in confidence and despite a further Old Pats score, Saunders and Surry landed penalty to take their side to within five points.

The game continued to turn towards the home side, with a try from Bobby Lyons, followed by a pacy effort from John Turner.

A conversion from Saunders, plus a further try from Old Pats had the teams level at 40-40.

Then, an infringement just inside the half brought Saunders back to the kicking tee and he landed the winning penalty to hand Chippenham only their second win of the season.