CHIPPENHAM Town boss Mark Collier hailed the work rate of his side on a hot day across the south of England after the Bluebirds recorded a 1-0 win at home to Weymouth.

Chris Zebroski’s first goal for the club in the 40th minute was the difference between the two sides and as a result, Collier’s men have moved up into 10th position in National League South following just one defeat from their opening half-a-dozen games.

In front of a crowd of 779, Chippenham hit the post twice, had two chances cleared off the line and saw a Luke Haines effort sail just over the crossbar.

The Chippenham boss was pleased with his side’s early resilience and championed the effort of striker Zebroski in particular.

Collier said: “We came under the cosh at the start of the game, they pop it around for fun and they’ve got a lot of experience.

“But we managed to stay in the game, and we got ourselves a goal through Chris Zebroski, who was outstanding for us.

“His energy and his know-how and his all-around play was fully deserving of a goal, I thought.

“In the second half, we continued in the same vein and had two cleared off the line and we hit the post twice.

“Once we got ourselves into the game, we were full value for the win because our work ethic was top drawer today, top drawer.”

As temperature’s came close to 30 degrees in some parts of Wiltshire, Collier watched his side come under pressure against a newly-promoted Weymouth outfit, but after having a first-half goal ruled out for offside, Mark Molesley’s men would ultimately fall victim to their more established counterparts.

Collier felt his side would always be presented with an opportunity to assert their dominance and was glad to prove Weymouth right in terms of what they had expected upon arrival.

He said: “I spoke to their manager afterwards and he said they’d signed some experienced players, but they knew before they came here what to expect.

He said: ‘we knew we were going to come up against a side that never lie down and work their socks off for each other’ and that’s what we did today.

“We knew we’d have a little spell of dominance, and when we had that, we scored.

“We were a threat going forward, we were very compact in defence, and it’s a good all-around effort and I’m very pleased with the players tonight.”