A DEPLETED Bluebirds refused to be knocked off their flight path on Tuesday night as they overcame Basingstoke Town at Hardenhuish Park on Tuesday night.

Manager Mark Collier was without goalkeeper Darren Chitty while Nuno Felix, James Guthrie, Ryan Campbell and the suspended Greg Tindle were all also ruled out but Chippenham Town maintained their position at the higher reaches of the table by vanquishing the Dragons 2-0 thanks to goals from Matt Jones and Andy Sandell.

Collier did manage to draft in 27-year-old former Swindon Supermarine stopper James Rae, 27, and 30-year-old left-back Diak John from Hungerford Town to face Basingstoke but was nonetheless delighted with his team’s steadfast display.

“I wouldn’t say that we were down to the bare bones but we did have quite a few players missing. It’s nice to see that we’ve got a bit of resolve in the group,” said the Chippenham chief.

“We were up against a side that had just beaten (second-in-the-table) Slough. They play a different style to us but we’ve got our way of playing and we managed to grind out a 2-0 win and get our first clean sheet in a while.

“We knew that Darren Chitty would miss this game and we tried looking into bringing in a loan keeper but clubs were keen for their players to get four or five games, which was something I couldn’t promise.

“James Rae was unattached and by his own admission, he didn’t have a lot to do but what he did have to do, he did well.

“Diak John is one of the best left-backs around. We were lucky enough to be able to get him in but how long-term it will be is something that we need to try and have some conversations about because he has a few other commitments away from football.”

The Bluebirds travel to Wiltshire rivals Salisbury in the first qualifying round of the FA Trophy this weekend and Collier is anticipating a local derby to savour.

The Chippenham boss added: “We’ve got a supporters’ coach going there and Salisbury get good crowds, so there should be a good atmosphere on Saturday.

“We were expecting to be playing Hereford but Sailisbury beat them in the last round and fair play to them for doing that.

“They’ve got some good players and it’s a local derby but we’ve got to go there looking to win the game.”