CHIPPENHAM Town chief Mark Collier would give his side a “seven-and-a-half out of ten” rating for their season so far, despite the Bluebirds notching up a fourth win in five games on Saturday.

New signing Darren Edwards, James Guthrie and Alex Ferguson got the goals as the Bluebirds’ fine start to the season continued with a comfortable 3-1 win at Histon.

But manager Collier thinks that there is still plenty of room for improvement for the Hardenhuish Park men.

“We started the game very well at Histon but it did look like there were a few tired legs out there after we played with ten men for so long on Tuesday (a 1-0 win at Dorchester Town),” said the Chippenham boss.

“After we went 2-0 up, it was all about putting men behind the ball and in the end, it was quite a comfortable away victory.

“This team is still in its infancy and it’s still a growing team. You find yourself banging on about the same things over and over because you want to try and instill a certain standard in the players.

“I’d say that we’re probably at about a seven-and-a-half out of ten at the moment and we can definitely improve.

“But to say that I’m not happy would be a massive understatement.”

A host of former Chippenham players, such as Ashley Williams, Jon Davies and Brandon Barnes, are set to return to Hardenhuish Park today as the Bluebirds host Nick Bunyard’s Paulton Rovers (kick-off 3pm).

Collier added: “Paulton did well to get promoted last year and they’ve brought in some good players.

“I’m sure they’ll look at us as a bit of a scalp because we’re the established Premier Division team but everything goes out of the window in these local derbies.”

Elsewhere, Cirencester Town make the trip to bottom-of-the-table Banbury United, who have lost all of their opening five games, today.

Brian Hughes’ men were held to a 1-1 draw by Dunstable Town at the Corinium Stadium on Saturday, with Mark Pritchett’s opener with 15 minutes on the clock cancelled out by the visitors’ Jamal McKenzie-Lowe.