CHIPP, HIP HOORAY FOR COLLIER
IF you are going to make history, you may as well do it in style. It’s fair to say none of the hundreds of Chippenham Town fans who travelled to the A4 derby would have expected anything except a bumpy road.
Bath City nailed their colours to the mast on the back page of The NonLeague Paper just three weeks ago.
‘We’re in it to win it’ claimed Romans manager Gary Owers before a ball was kicked. At 9.45pm on Tuesday night, he may have wished he didn’t pick up the phone.
Two games, two defeats against two sides many will feel won’t trouble the top half of the National League South.
Not only did the Bluebirds score their first goal in the division – that honour fell to Matt Smith – but they didn’t leave it there. There’s nothing quite as empowering as wining away to a big rival. But to pull their pants down in their own back yard in the first game between the west country clubs in over a decade?
Well Chippenham fans would be perfectly happy if the new season ended there and then on Tuesday night.
Manager Mark Collier isn’t stopping there, mind you. He now wants his side to thrive in the league and show people his Southern Premier champions can cope with the jump up to Step 2 just like they did at Twerton Park.
Local pride battered and bruised, this was a signal of intent following on from their first day goalless draw against Havant & Waterlooville.
“We earned that,” beamed the manager. “We’ve also earned the right to play in these sorts of match and against Bath City again.
“These are the kind of night the club has been crying out for. Football is really big in this part of the world and you say on Tuesday what it meant to our supporters.
“I’ve got to say that was a five star performance in every sense of the word. We’ve got pace up front and we’ve used it.
“We didn’t quite get the rub of the green on the first day of the season but we took our frustration out at Bath, it was a great night for everyone. We had a game plan and we executed it perfectly.”
Chippenham’s manager clearly doesn’t fear anyone in the National League South and knows joining the division as champions will always gain respect.
“We’re just getting on with our job quietly,” Collier said. “I’ll be honest, we probably would have settled for a point before we travelled to Bath but when we got out there and saw our fans behind the goal we found another level.
“Derby games bring the best out of everyone; players, supporters and the coaches. We gave them something to cheer about and I’m 100 per cent certain it was a nice trip back down the A4 for them.”