CHIPPENHAM Town livewire Wayne Thorne is racing to be fit to face his sibling this weekend.

The defender's older brother Gary is a key figure in the Merthyr Tydfil side that the Bluebirds visit tomorrow, and Wayne hopes to shake off ligament damage that has seen him miss a troublesome fortnight at Hardenhuish Park.

Chippenham remain bottom of the Premier Division and without a manager, but the return of Thorne Junior provides a major boost to a defence that has conceded nine goals in three league games during his absence.

The brothers last met in the epic reverse fixture at Hardenhuish in September.

Chippenham trailed 2-0 at the break before a late rally saw them take a 3-2 lead, only for the Welshmen to level with a stoppage-time penalty.

Along with the possible return of Thorne, former Swindon Town men Gareth Davies and Keith O'Halloran will be in contention for a start after steadying the ship as substitutes during the 3-0 defeat by Stafford last Saturday.

Mark Badman, Steve Brown, Simon Charity, Pat Mountain and Colin Towler remain on the casualty list.

Meanwhile, the Chippenham board hope to name a successor to former manager Tommy Saunders after the weekend.

A series of candidates have been interviewed this week and the new man should be in place in time for next Saturday's FA Trophy showdown with Basingstoke.

Steve White and Paul Bodin are thought to be in the running alongside ex-Salisbury boss Geoff Butler, current Paulton chief Darren Perrin and former Forest Green coach Chris Smith.

CIRENCESTER boss Brian Hughes is playing down his side's Western Division title chances after a seven- game winning streak which has catapulted the Centurions into championship contention.

Ciren currently occupy seventh and can move up to second behind Redditch should they win their games in hand.

But a tricky trip to Ilkeston looms tomorrow and with a tough December programme approaching, Hughes isn't getting carried away.

He said: "We've got games in hand but it's the points on the board that matter and at the moment we're seventh not second.

"We've had a good run but this league is so tight that if we lose three or four on the trot we'll be in the bottom seven instead of the top seven.

"The games are getting harder with the likes of Ilkeston, Bromsgrove and Rugby.

"If we come through that period the table will start to take shape and we can start assessing our progress."

Ciren remain injury-free, and Hughes should name an unchanged team following the 1-0 win at Bedworth last week.

Once again the biggest selection dilemma will be whether to recall striker Jody Bevan, who scored the winner from the bench and hit a hat-trick in Ciren's previous victory over Team Bath.