LUKE Russe scored a long-range screamer on Tuesday night to help Chippenham Town end a run of six successive draws in National League South.
Following six points from half-a-dozen matches – including a thrilling 2-2 draw at home to Concord Rangers at the weekend – the Bluebirds edged past relegation-threatened Weymouth by a goal to nil in Dorset thanks to Russe’s second-half piledriver into the top left corner.
That goal capped off a memorable few days for Chippenham after the Bluebirds had fought back from 2-0 down to score twice in stoppage time on Saturday.
Spencer Hamilton had already been sent off prior to Eddie Jones’ and Craig Fasanmade’s late, late interventions, but nevertheless it was an important point in Chippenham’s quest for survival.
Explaining how he felt the result in both games did not necessarily reflect the quality of his side’s performance, Bluebirds’ boss Gary Horgan said: “Tuesday was stark contrast to Saturday and probably the past five or six games in the last eight or nine weeks really.
“I was really, really pleased with the result but disappointed with the performance. On Tuesday, we needed a little bit of magic from Luke Russe to win us the game. We missed a couple of chances to make it two and three, which would have made the game safe for us.
“But on Saturday, I came away scratching my head as to how we’d not won the game and still managed to get back into the game when we were 2-0 down and with 10 men.
“The performance was brilliant on Saturday, but not great on Tuesday. But then, I think we got some luck on Tuesday that we haven’t had in the games before.”
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Chippenham are still in the relegation zone despite four points in quick succession, but they have two games in hand over the majority of the bottom half.
Horgan is optimistic his team will continue to pick up results as confidence is certainly not an issue off the back of very few defeats this calendar year.
He said: “Hopefully this will help us kick on now. I certainly don’t think we’re a group which is low on confidence.
“To come back from 2-0 in injury time on Saturday with 10 men just shows the belief there is within the squad.
“It’s two games in 14 now that we’ve lost. We’re on quite a nice unbeaten strike, and we’re in the top 10 of the form guide over the past six games.”
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