THE Bluebirds went racing through to the second round of the Southern League Cup thanks to ex-Chippenham midfielder Alan Bird.

Bird, who has had stints at Hardenhuish Park, Devizes and Trowbridge, scored a spectacular 25 yard header past his own keeper.

Keeper Mark Hervin punted the ball up field for Bird to lob over stranded keeper Sean Mapson in the 20th minute.

The comical winner came after striker James Constable's opener in the fourth minute.

The hitman was starting his first game for the Bluebirds since mid-December and netted his first goal against his old club.

As winger Scott Walker took a corner, the Cirencester defence were pulled all over the place by the movement of the Chippenham players.

Constable lost his marker, Cirencester captain Gary Wootton, and headed the ball past the young keeper.

Throughout the first half Chippenham dominated and looked the only team likely to score as Hervin had an uneventful 45 minutes.

Chippenham boss Steve White made six changes to the side that beat Dunstable 4-1 last week, including a first start since October for midfield dynamo Mark Badman.

White said: "We gave the players that have not featured for a while valuable match practice and they did exceptionally well."

Badman covered every inch of the pitch and looked like a player that had a point to prove.

His tackling was fierce and work rate was high but he did not look entirely sharp and some of his passing was off.

White said: "He did not get himself in too much bother, if we can have him fully fit before February it will be fantastic."

Not everything went Chippenham's way as there was a comedy of errors at the back that cost the home side their comfortable two goal cushion in the 75th minute.

Defender Michael Jackson crossed into a virtually empty Chippenham box, the ball came to centre back Ian Herring who was totally unchallenged.

He attempted to head the ball wide but it thumped off the post, allowing striker Phil Corcoran to swept home into an empty net.

Cirencester's goal inspired the side that had been played off the park for most of the game and they made Chippenham sweat for the last ten minutes.

Their closest effort came with eight minutes left on the clock.

Corcoran was put through on goal, he saw Hervin advancing and blasted the ball from 20 yards out.

Hervin flew through the air land somehow stretched high to tip the ball narrowly over the crossbar to preserve Chippenham's one goal lead.

The draw for the next round was due to takeplace today (Thursday).

Chippenham: Hervin, Charity, Jones, Thorne, Herring, Davidson, Horgan (Allison 88), Badman, Paul, Constable, Walker. Subs not used: Gilroy, Mcentegart, Regis, Wilmot.