Chippenham Town boss Adie Mings says that he predicted that yesterday’s clash with Redditch United would be a close-run affair and expressed his disappointment over his team’s unfortunate 1-0 loss.

The Bluebirds were undone by a goal 15 minutes in and despite being on the front foot for long periods in Worcestershire, the returned from the Valley Stadium with nothing.

“One long ball into the box has ping-ponged around through to their striker and he’s put it into the corner – they then had a ten minute spell where they had their tails up but from there, I thought we were in control,” said Mings.

“Toby (Osman)’s missed a guilt-edged chance with a free header, Luke Gullick’s had a good chance and Alan Griffin’s had a goal disallowed which the linesman said was because his foot was offside.

“I thought we dug in on a difficult pitch and asked questions but again, I don’t think we worked their keeper well enough.

“For all our half-decent approach play, the cutting edge in and around the box is sadly missing at this moment in time.

“You can’t fault anybody for effort or anything but it’s of our own making because all it takes is giving away one soft goal and then sides who are fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table make I difficult for you.

“It was always going to be a game that was going to take one goal either way because of the conditions and the state of the pitch.”

Bluebirds boss Mings shuffled his pack and handed starts to Mani Randhawa, Luke Gullick and Osman, who returned to the side from suspension.

Kevin Sawyer and Shaun Lamb were missing, while Mings revealed that Greg Tindle was out with a broken hand picked up against Cirencster Town last week.

Midfielder Richard Evans has left Chippenham due to work commitments that restricted his availability to train with the Bluebirds.