RICHARD Evans is the newest member of the Bluebirds’ Welsh contingent and says that former Newport County teammate Ashley Williams played a big part in bringing him to Hardenhuish Park.

The 28-year-old midfielder made his Chippenham debut in Tuesday night’s loss to Bashley after signing from Welsh Division One side Aberaman Athletic.

And Evans, a former Bath City man who also spent three injury-hit years with Sheffield Wednesday, says that playing in England has always been his preference.

“Ashley gave me a buzz to see what I was up to and he said that Adie (Mings) would be keen on me coming over so I came to a few training sessions and here I am now,” said Evans.

“Lewis (Powell) only lives down the road from me in Caerphilly, so there’s three of us who car share and I’m used to the travelling anyway.

“I’ve always seemed to play on this side of the bridge and I think I’ve always found that it’s a little bit better standard of football over here so it was a good opportunity for me to get back involved. It’s a good team with a good fanbase.”

Evans, who was disappointed not to get his career with Bluebirds career off to a winning start, said: “I think it could have gone either way.

“We had a few good chances in the first half but they took their opportunity and things turned bad for us.

“We’ve had a good chat so we know what we need to do and we’ll bounce back.”

A quickfire double on the stroke of half-time stunned the Bluebirds.

The visitors had a glorious chance to take the lead just minutes in when Liam Green put Mark Gamble through on goal but Chippenham keeper Tommy Smith quickly rushed off his line to block.

At the other end, Dave Gilroy drew a save from Stewart Kearn but the next big chance of the game again fell to Bashley striker Gamble, who was denied by the fingertips of Smith after the ball broke to him on the edge of the area.

With three minutes to go in the first half, the Bluebirds were left wondering how they hadn’t opened their account, with Luke Gullick somehow latching on to the ball and being left with a free run on goal, only to see his left-footed finish blocked by the legs of Kearn.

Soon afterwards, Ross Stearn’s inswinging corner crashed against the crossbar, with Steve Casey’s hooked follow-up also bouncing back off the woodwork.

But it was the away side who broke the deadlock in the 45th minute, with Jack Smith getting to the byline down the right flank before crossing to striker James Stokoe to finish at the near post.

Almost straight from the re-start, Bashley doubled their lead through the same combination, with Smith feeding Stokoe, who swivelled before sweeping the ball into the net for his second goal in a matter of minutes.

Adie Mings’ side did pull a goal back nine minutes into the second period with a well-worked team goal.

Ian Herring played the ball out to Evans on the left-flank, whose deflected low cross was laid off by Dave Gilroy and side-footed into the corner of the net by Scott Lye to make it 2-1.

Minutes later, Bashley keeper Kearn was at full stretch to claw away Gilroy’s header from substitute James Guthrie’s free-kick.

Guthrie forced Kearn into another save with an shot from a set-piece while the Bluebirds’ Smith saved at his near post at close range from Josh Casey after he had been played in by Green.

In the 78th minute, Bashley restored their two-goal lead on the break, with strike Stokoe finding space on the left flank to find the arriving Ian Oliver, who slotted home into the side netting.

Smith had to produce a superb diving save to push away Gamble’s snapshot, as Chippenham’s evening ended in defeat.