CHIPPENHAM Town manager Gary Horgan is desperate to see key strikers Jordan Young and Craig Fasamade return to competitive action after the Bluebirds recorded a draw and defeat over the past few days.

Chippenham’s goal-scoring deficiencies came to the fore in a 1-1 draw away at 10-man Dover Athletic and in a 3-0 home defeat to second-place Havant and Waterlooville in National League South.

Horgan is adamant team performances have been largely bright and encouraging in recent weeks but the absence of two key forwards has had a serious effect on a side which has managed just 12 goals in 17 league outings.

Asked why his team is struggling to find the net so badly, Horgan said: “We’re waiting for Jordan Young and Craig Fasamade to get fit again.

“Fasamade played 45 minutes on Tuesday night, so that was good. We waited a long time to sign him, he scored on his debut, and then he’s been missing since with an unfortunate injury.

“When him and Jordan are back fit, we’re hoping they can both play some part on Saturday, then I think we’ll become a completely different side.

“We then have really good options up front with those two and Harry Parsons. At the moment, it’s a personnel availability issue because we don’t have our key players available.

“Longer term, we’ll need to focus on creating more chances and making sure we’re putting them away regularly.”

Prior to a brace from James Roberts and an opener courtesy of Muhammadu Faal in their midweek home defeat, Chippenham appeared to be heading towards three points in Kent on Saturday when Will Tizzard struck in the 35th minute.

But a red card for Dover’s Lee Martin failed to have the positive effect Bluebirds fans would have hoped for, and Alfie Pavey equalised with 16 minutes remaining.

Discussing the overall performance against Dover, Horgan said: “It was a good display really in the first half. We managed to get ourselves 1-0 up, and then they had a man sent off.

“I think that affected us more than it affected them. I think the old cliché of it sometimes being harder to play against 10 men rang true.

“The sending off probably changed it for them, but in the second half – for want of a better phrase – we just didn’t turn up.

“While we were still fairly comfortable, we allowed Dover to gain a foothold in the contest, which was disappointing considering they had 10 men. They put a lot of balls into the box, and in the end an individual error cost us.”