CHIPPENHAM Town manager Mike Cook was happy to see his side take a point against Chelmsford City on Saturday, especially as the ball was only in play for 12 minutes throughout the entire contest.

A difficult pitch and blustery weather conditions ensured neither team would be able to play a lot of high-quality football – a fact which resulted in a 0-0 scoreline from the National League South clash.

Cook explained that a normal game would usually see the ball in play for around 25-30 minutes per 90, however, the aforementioned factors ensured throw-ins and set-pieces were aplenty.

The Bluebirds boss accepted that it was just one of those days and was therefore happy to take a point and move on with Chippenham staying in seventh.

Cook said: “It was a terrible pitch. we couldn’t play on it at all, so we had to change our tactics before the game.

“The wind was terrible too, so whoever had the wind in the first half was going to get a few chances, which they did.

“They were miles better than us in the first half, but in the second half we were a bit better.

“We looked at the stats after the game, and the actual time of the ball being in play was 12 minutes. 12 whole minutes out of 90.

“That tells you the game wasn’t very good, but the pitch and wind did not help at all. To get a point in the end was probably a fair result, and I looked at it as a good away point.”

Chippenham will quickly switch their attention to this Saturday’s fixture at home to Concord Rangers – a side the Bluebirds dominated in the reverse fixture.

Cook is hopeful of a repeat this weekend and says his team will be doing everything they can to extend their unbeaten run.

He said: “Around September to October time, Concord were in the top six, but then we went down there and beat them 3-0. We played probably the best we had up to that point too.

“Since then, they’ve been on a little bit of a slippery slope with some poor results. They’re around where we would normally be, so you’d like to think they’re a team that we would hopefully beat.

“Ideally, a repeat of the performance and result from before would be great. But as we know, football doesn’t often work like that. We’ll be doing everything we can to make sure it does.”