CHIPPENHAM Town moved to within a point of the National League South play-off places at the weekend following a 2-0 win at home to Dulwich Hamlet.

Joe Hanks’ goal after half an hour sent the Bluebirds on their way before captain Kieran Parselle added a result-clinching second in the 90th minute.

The victory saw Chippenham edge up to eighth, one place below Havant & Waterlooville who the Bluebirds travel to on the final day of the regular season.

Dissecting the performance, caretaker manager Gary Horgan was largely very pleased with what he witnessed.

He said: “We played really, really well in the first half, and we probably could have gone in further ahead than we actually did.

“We missed a couple of good chances, one particularly good one just before the half-time whistle. At that point, I’m thinking that maybe our opportunity is gone because you know the game is going to change in the second half.

“They had a good go at it in the second half, but we contained them really well – I think our goalkeeper had to make his first save close to the end when we were already 2-0 up.

“It would have been nice to make it a little less never-wracking near the end, but it’s a really positive result which sets us up nicely for this weekend.”

Chippenham take on in-form Ebbsfleet United this Saturday before the small matter of an M4-corridor derby against Hungerford Town a week later.

Horgan is aware of the difficult situation his team faces, both this weekend and in their final three games, but says the Bluebirds have no other option than to take things one game at a time as they plot an extraordinary end to their season.

He said: “We’ve got three games to go, and we’ve got a really tough game against Ebbsfleet on Saturday.

“For me, they’re arguably the best team in the league in terms of the way they play, their patterns, and their rotations.

“We’re under no illusions that it’s going to be really tough, but we’ll try and go there with a plan that allows us to win that game.

“Like I’ve said before, if anyone had said we’d be in this position right at the start of the season, everyone would have snapped your hand off. Or if they weren’t a Chippenham fan they would have laughed in your face.

“At the club, we’ve always believed a top-10 finish was possible – hopefully we can go one better.”