MARK Collier is sure that Chippenham Town have what it takes to keep their Southern League Premier Division title charge on track next week without both their captain and top goalscorer.

Chippenham beat Chesham United 3-1 at Hardenhuish Park on Tuesday night to move four points clear at the top of the Southern League Premier Division table but skipper Greg Tindle and striker Andy Sandell, who took his goal tally for the season to 31 with a brace against the Generals, are both facing two-match bans for an accumulation of yellow cards.

Defender Tindle and Sandell will miss Saturday’s home game with Kettering Town and next Tuesday’s trip to Kings Langley but Collier believes that he has enough strength-in-depth at his disposal to keep the Bluebirds chirping.

“Of course we’re going to miss those players. You’re going to miss somebody that’s scored 30 goals and one of the premiere centre-backs in the league,” said the Chippenham manager.

“But other clubs lose their top players at times and it’s something that you have to deal with in a 46-game season.

“We’ve got a squad of 17 that are all good enough to compete in this league and it’s not like we’re going to be playing with nine players instead of 11.

“Rhys Baggridge will come in for Tindle and we’ll have a think about how we’re going to replace Sandell.”

Chippenham stretched their unbeaten run to 13 matches and racked up their sixth successive win by beating Chesham in a fixture that was originally abandoned back in December when Generals man Bruce Wilson fell awkwardly and suffered a double leg-break.

With 19 minutes on the clock, Sandell diverted home Nuno Felix’s right-footed strike before firing home from the penalty spot five minutes before half-time after David Pratt was felled in the area.

The Bluebirds grabbed their third with a set-piece move straight from the training ground, James Guthrie cheekily laying off the ball from a set-piece into the path of a disinterested-looking Matt Smith, who burst into life and cracked home a thunderous low strike.

Chesham grabbed a consolation effort in the 72nd minute, Adam Martin turning home the final goal of the evening.

Collier added: “When we drew 1-1 with Leamington a few weeks ago – they were seven or eight points clear at the time – people were saying that if we lost, it would be all over.

“We’ve only lost four games this season and I’m not naive enough to think we won’t lose another but we should embrace this.

“All we’re concentrating on is the next game.”