MATCH PREVIEW: Chippenham Town vs Chelmsford City | Tue 23rd Aug 2022

Jamie Oleszynski takes a look ahead to the re-arranged league game against The Clarets

Chippenham Town return to The Thornbury Surfacing Stadium to play the re-arranged league home tie against Chelmsford City. The original fixture against the Clarets was scheduled to be on Saturday 13th of August. The matchwas halted on 27 minutes as Bluebirds defender Pablo Martinez collapsed in the centre-circle.

After being taken to Bristol Hospital, Pablo was confirmed as being in a ‘stable condition’ later on Sunday morning. The latest update on Pablo is that he remains in Hospital for some precautionary tests, but he has been told ‘there is no reason why he cannot play again’. The Club would like to thank everyone involved in the incident, especially the response of club physio Anton Forbes, Martin Searle and the quick work of the NHS to attend to Pablo.

The opening 25 minutes of play was one of few chances. Simpson and Palmer-Houlden had good games, and showed why Gary Horgan was right to bring them into the squad. The biggest chance for Chippenham came in the form of a free-kick that was shot straight at ‘keeper Ejeheri‘. The Chippenham squad were granted permission to postpone their following match against Oxford on Tuesday 16th.

Since then, the Bluebirds have returned to action with a hard fought 0-0 draw against newly-promoted and highly-rated Worthing. Chippenham again produced little in terms of clear cut chances, but they also successfully shut-out their opponents to secure their first league points of the new season. The biggest chance for Chippenham fell the way of Joe Parker who, after linking up with
Jordan Young, fired just wide of the post. Worthing also had a few decent chances, with Will Henry having to make a smart stop in the dying moments.

Chippenham currently sit 2nd from bottom in the National League South, but having played 2 less than most clubs in the league. One point of concern may be that the Bluebirds have failed to find the net so far this season, but with 44 matches left to go, there is plenty of time to recover..

Following from last Saturday’s abandoned tie against Chelmsford City, supporters who collected a voucher for the re-arranged fixture on their way out of the stadium, will be able to use that ticket for Tuesday’s game.

If any supporters left the ground before the announcement regarding tickets were unable to collect a voucher. Due to supporter enquiries, if you have the original ticket you purchased to hand, then you will be able to use that on the gate. But it MUST be present and shown to the Ticket office opon arrival.