MARK Collier is hoping for some home comfort in the New Year as Chippenham Town kick off a run of four successive games at Hardenhuish Park this weekend.

Seven of the Bluebirds’ last ten matches have taken place away from home but boss Collier has called on the club’s fans to play their part in turning Hardenhuish Park into a fortress.

The Bluebirds, whose New Year’s Day trip to Hungerford Town was rained off, host St Neots Town on Saturday and Arlesey Town next Tuesday evening before welcoming St Albans City and Weymouth to Wiltshire later this month.

“We start the New Year with 20-odd games left to play and plenty of points up for grabs. We’ve been away a lot recently but this run of matches at home gives us a chance to try and pick up a few,” said Collier.

“The lads enjoy their football when they’re playing at home because it’s always nice to play in front of a crowd and hopefully the fans can play their part by coming out to watch.

“If they could carry on supporting us, just like they have since myself and Tom (Jones, assistant manager) have come in, and more and more fans can come to watch, then hopefully they can help turn Hardenhuish Park into a bit of a fortress.

“We go out looking to try and win every game and hopefully we can start doing that at home.”

Collier looks set to shuffle his attacking options against St Neots, with captain Alan Griffin suspended and fellow striker Lee Phillips’ return from a hamstring injury still in doubt.

The Bluebirds boss said: “Griff has his one-match ban to serve because of the Hungerford game being off and we’ll assess Lee Phillips at training tonight.

“Iain Harvey also looks like he’ll need another week to ten days before he comes back and I think we’ve missed his experience out there. Harvs has been around the block a few times and it helps having him involved because we are a young side.

“Apart from that, we’ve got pretty much a clean bill of health. Alex Ferguson comes back in to the squad after missing the last game (against Frome Town on Boxing Day).

“It’s the final weekend of his loan and then we’ll be talking to Swindon Town to try and see if we can look to extend it.”

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