CHIPPENHAM Town new boy Nathan Rudge is hoping he can help bring the good times back to the club.

The former Tiverton Town-man wore the blue of Chippenham at Hardenhuish Park for the first time in eight years in Tuesday night’s 3-0 friendly loss to Newport County.

“When I was here we won five or six trophies and a lot of people saw it as if I was walking away to go somewhere in the same league and they weren’t too happy with that,” said Rudge.

“A lot of people said I went and grabbed the money but you can call it what you want, really.

“I was at Tiverton for years and when I went there, we had a decent side, but over the years things deteriorated.

“I wanted to come here. It’s a new challenge and this year, the ambition is to get up, so hopefully I can add a bit of experience.

“I enjoyed my time down there but I’ve come back now and hopefully we can bring the good times back to Chippenham.”

Rudge says that he jumped at the chance to re-join the Bluebirds, after departing for Tiverton in 2002.

“I had a couple of offers from other places but in the years I had here – I loved it.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Adie (Mings), Kempy (Gary Kemp), Bowny (Matt Bown) and Pete (Hussey) so it just seemed ideal and it’s local to home as well.

“I’m thoroughly enjoying it, there’s a good bunch of lads and hopefully, the future looks quite bright.”