CHIPPENHAM head coach Danny Thomas has no intention of throwing in the towel on the Allington Field side’s survival battle despite them slipping to the bottom of National Three South West.

Saturday’s 28-5 defeat to fourth-placed Brixham left Thomas’ side propping up the rest of the division and, with almost certainly three sides being relegated this season, 12 points away from safety.

With just four matches remaining, Chippenham have played more games than all of the rivals immediately above them, leaving their fate in others’ hands.

Three of those final four fixtures are also away from home but with fellow strugglers Worcester Wanderers, Old Patesians and Old Centralians to play, Thomas believes it’s premature to write off their hopes.

“We’ve still got to try. We’ve got three away games, which doesn’t help but three games against teams who are in and around us,’’ said Thomas.

“We’ve got Worcester Wanderers (a week on Saturday) and we need to win that. If we can still pick up points, we can put pressure on teams above us.’’

Thomas is determined to finish a difficult campaign on a positive note going in to next season, whichever division they are in.

“It’s important to finish the season well and carry that forward into pre-season,’’ he added.

“It will be good to see the reaction from some of the players because we’ve struggled this season with player availability and we need to rebuild for the future.

“We knew the league would be tough but to lose the players we have to unavailability and injuries has been very hard for everyone.

“It needs to be addressed to a certain degree in terms of development but there are teams in this division who have six-figure budgets. We don’t so I think that overall Chippenham does very well.’’

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