11:27am Wednesday 18th April 2007
By Gareth Moorhouse
IAIN Harvey admits Chippenham Town's fate is no longer in their own hands after Saturday's crushing defeat at the Walks Stadium.
The Bluebirds skipper is refusing to throw in the towel just yet, but Harvey knows Chippenham's play-off hopes are hanging by the thinnest of threads.
He said: "We need a few sides to do us a favour now. We've got to beat Hemel Hempstead at their place to stand any chance.
"It was always going to be a tough ask with the run-in we've had, but we really fancied our chances. If you look at our form since Adie Mings came in it's right up there with the top sides.
"We won't give up. We'll go into that last game at Hemel as if our lives depended on it."
The trip to Hemel Hempstead could, of course, become academic should Chippenham fail to beat lowly Cheshunt tomorrow.
If Saturday's luckless display in Norfolk is anything to go by, Adie Mings will need a kit-bag packed with rabbits' feet, four-leaf clovers and charm bracelets to bring his side a change in fortunes.
Chippenham had two goals disallowed, a strong penalty appeal waved away and midfielder Ian Herring sent off for two very dubious yellow cards.
All this added up to a disastrous afternoon for Chippenham, no doubt compounded by the 200 mile long trip back to north Wiltshire.
The Bluebirds flew out of the traps and thought they had scored through Dave Gilroy after three minutes, only for his close-range effort to be ruled out for offside.
Minutes later Gilroy struck the King's Lynn crossbar and Kes Metitiri drilled home the rebound, but this time the referee had spotted a push in the build-up.
Chippenham then saw their first penalty appeal waved away when the officials failed to spot a handball by defender Danny Hammond.
To make matters worse, the home side hit Chippenham with a quick counter which saw Jack Defty lob his side in front with the aid of Chris Snoddy's right-hand post.
Appeals for a second Bluebirds penalty, this time for a foul on Mark Badman, were once again ignored by the referee as the frustration began to boil over.
This culminated in a yellow card for Herring, whose fierce challenge on Jamie Gould after 55 minutes did not got unnoticed.
Ten minutes later the Chippenham midfielder was given his marching orders for another yellow card offence, a mistimed challenge on Louis Blois, as Chippenham's uphill struggle became almost mountainous.
Lynn went two goals clear after Matt Nolan lobbed the advancing Snoddy from 18 yards.
The Linnets hammered the final nail in Chippenham's coffin two minutes from time when substitute Michael Frew chipped the helpless Snoddy.
Blues captain Harvey insists the 3-0 scoreline did not tell the true picture of Saturday's game.
He said: "We were totally dominating in the first half. We played some really good football but we couldn't stick the ball in the net.
"Normally, when you're 1-0 down you don't chase the game like we did, but we really needed a result.
"I don't think the luck went our way. I'm gutted about the result, but we can take plenty positives from the performance."
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