CHIPPENHAM Town will travel to Ebbsfleet United on the opening day of the 2022-23 National League South campaign.

The Bluebirds’ most recent season ended at the hands of Ebbsfleet following a superb run into the play-offs, but Gary Horgan’s men have been handed an early opportunity to gain revenge on Saturday, August 6.

Chippenham end their season away to Dulwich Hamlet – a place where the Wiltshire side has enjoyed success over the past two seasons.

Both A4 derby contests will take place over the Christmas period with Chippenham travelling to Twerton Park on Boxing Day and Bath City returning to the Thornbury Surfacing Stadium on New Year’s Day.

Chippenham’s Easter period sees Horgan’s men travel to Slough Town on Good Friday before hosting Hampton and Richmond Borough on Easter Monday.

The Bluebirds’ first home game of the season comes against Chelmsford City on Saturday, August 13. The final regular-season game at the Thornbury Surfacing Stadium will be against Tonbridge Angels on Saturday, April 22.

But before the league campaign gets underway, Chippenham still have to navigate pre-season and Horgan will need to bolster his squad with a handful more signings.

The Bluebirds boss has already been busy doing so, brining in four new players in the past week.

Right-back Eddie Jones was re-signed from Bath City, left-sided player Matt Jones arrived from Hungerford Town, forward Joe Parker was brought in from Leamington Spa, and Tom Mehew agreed to return on a permanent deal following his release from Bristol Rovers.

Horgan says the club remains fairly busy in the market and will looking to bring in a few more fresh faces over the coming weeks.

Not that the manager will be ignoring Chippenham’s own academy system, a place Horgan believes is teeming with talent and promise.

Horgan said: “We’re still looking to bring in a couple more. We’re continuing to talk to people, we’re speaking to people every day, and we’ve got a couple in on trial.

“But I’m not over-looking boys that we’ve got within our academy system. We’ve got some really talented boys within our building as well, so we won’t be looking for replacements in certain areas at the moment because I think those guys are more than adequate replacements.

“We’re not rushing it, we’re still looking at people here and there and having conversations here and there. We’re just trying to assess where we really need to target in terms of our recruitment.”