Robins lead the way after league and cup double
FOLLOWING an eventful season for the Gloucestershire clubs, our women’s football writer KEITH WATSON assesses who has impressed and who has disappointed during the 2021/22 campaign, ranking them in order of their relative achievements.
1. CHELTENHAM TOWN
GLOUCESTERSHIRE’S highest-status team led by example with a magnificent season. Tom Davies’ side won the FA National League South West Division One and promotion to the third-tier Southern Premier Division. Two days after securing the title with a 3-1 win over Chesham, they added the GFA Women’s Trophy with a 3-0 victory over Almondsbury in the final. The Robins also made it to the semi-finals of the National League Plate before being beaten by Nottingham Forest.
2. DURSLEY TOWN
PERHAPS it is appropriate that the team that finished as runners-up in the GFA Women’s Challenge Cup, the Gordon Perrett Cup and Division Two of the County League again comes second. Dursley had a remarkable campaign, given their status as a genuine grassroots club with nothing like the resources or facilities of some rival sides. The goals of Morgan Tayler spearheaded their charge, but this was a real team effort from a squad that made their 20th anniversary season one to remember.
3. CIRENCESTER TOWN
TWO goals from Jodie Bailey saw the Centurions retain the GFA Women’s Challenge Cup with a 2-0 triumph over Dursley, having beaten Ellwood and Bristol Rovers Development in the earlier rounds. Cirencester lost their way a little in Division Two of the County League, with joint-boss Dan Ray admitting they were a better team on an artificial surface than on grass, ending the campaign fourth of the eight teams.
4. TUFFLEY ROVERS
NEWLY-PROMOTED to Division Two of the County League, Tuffley had an excellent start to the season, taking 12 points from their opening four games, but their form became inconsistent. Cheltenham Civil Service were a particular bogey side, with 10 goals flying past them in two League encounters, although their final placing of third was a commendable effort. Tuffley failed to make any headway in the cups, with early exits to Gloucester City Development and Ellwood.
5. FOREST GREEN ROVERS
PLAYING their first season since developing much closer ties to the men’s club, Forest Green earned fifth position in the fifth-tier South West Premier, having been elevated to that level last summer. Although starting the campaign slowly, Rovers improved as the season went on, and took a change of manager in their stride as Chris Hicks stood down to be replaced by Tom
Needham. A run-out at the New Lawn in the FA Cup saw Almondsbury beaten 5-1, although they exited the GFA Women’s Trophy to County League Pucklechurch.
6. CHELTENHAM CIVIL SERVICE
CIVVY began the campaign with 8-4 and 9-3 defeats, although that was to eventual champions and runners-up Bristol Rovers Development and Dursley. However, the installation of wife-andhusband managerial team Maxine and Simon Greenwood, and the impressive goal haul of striker Gemma Riley, saw Civvy climb steadily up Division Two of the County League, while knocking out higher-division Longlevens and taking eventual winners Longwell Green to penalties in the Gordon Perrett Cup.
7. KINGSWOOD
COUNTY League debutants Kingswood gave a good account of themselves in Division Three, finishing sixth, only a handful of points behind third place. Although suffering one of the heaviest defeats of the season when encountering Division One champions Pucklechurch in the Gordon Perrett Cup, Kingswood otherwise impressed, with a 2-1 home win over eventual runners-up Whitchurch & Bristol arguably their best result of the campaign.
8. BISHOP’S CLEEVE
PLAYING in Division One of the County League for the first time, the Mitres proved the best of the north Gloucestershire clubs in the standings. Chris Gough’s young side enjoyed some impressive wins, although their inexperience led to a handful of heavy defeats. The manager also lamented a sloppy performance which saw them exit the Gordon Perrett Cup to eventual runners-up Dursley in the quarter-finals.
9. GLOUCESTER CITY
FINISHING sixth of eight in Division One of the County League was probably not what was envisaged by Gloucester City’s ambitious chairman Alex Petheram, who has applied for promotion to the South West League. Victories against Olveston and Bristol & West, as well as Weston in the FA Cup, plus the club’s tremendous facilities show the potential at New Meadow Park, but heavy defeats at the hands of Pucklechurch and Longwell Green highlight where improvement is required.
10. CHELTENHAM TOWN DEVELOPMENT
LIVED in the shadow of their successful first team for a large portion of the season, with three South West League Northern Division games having to be called off due to them being unable to raise a team. However, they managed to finish clear of the bottom two courtesy of five victories, including at Bristol Ladies Union, Downend and Frampton, and went unbeaten in their final five matches.
11. WINCHCOMBE TOWN
THE Magpies began their County League campaign in tremendous fashion, sharing leadership of Division Three in the early stages, but they struggled against the bigger hitters, and beat only Tewkesbury in the League after mid-november. Winchcombe appeared to save their best for the cup competitions, pushing subsequent runners-up Dursley all the way in a 4-3 GFA Challenge Cup loss, while beating higher-division Ellwood 4-1 to reach the last eight of the Gordon Perrett Cup.
12. MITCHELDEAN
FOR a club that appeared in serious danger of folding last summer, Mitcheldean performed commendably. Having lost half-a-dozen players to Gloucester City, including Kate Ambrey and Jade Powell, Mitcheldean dropped from Division Two to Division Three, and proved a tough nut to crack, with a notable win over champions Bradley Stoke.
13. CITY OF GLOUCESTER
IN their first season since cutting ties with Gloucester City AFC and reverting to their original guise from the 1990s, City of Gloucester struggled for much of the County League Division Two season. Losing their goalkeeper to the new Gloucester City Women did not help, but matters improved when Cotswold Rangers folded and a number of their players bolstered the ranks, leading to wins against Red Falcon, Ellwood and Cirencester.
14. LONGLEVENS
PROMOTED from Division Two after the truncated 2020/21 campaign, Longlevens struggled to adapt to the top tier of the County League. The Gloucester side won one match all season - a 2-1 triumph at Bishop’s Cleeve - and drew two others. Levens also crashed out of the Gordon Perrett Cup to lower-division Cheltenham Civil Service. There were some brave performances, however, with high-flying Olveston needing a last-minute winner to triumph 2-1.
15. ELLWOOD
THE Forest of Dean side cancelled five of their League fixtures as they finished bottom of Division Two of the County League. After winning their opening fixture, Ellwood won only one more League game, although they ran Bristol Rovers Development close at home and also lost an 11-goal thriller, 6-5 to Tuffley. The Bromley Road outfit reached the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup, but were beaten by lower-league Winchcombe in the Gordon Perrett Cup.
16. TEWKESBURY TOWN
FORMED as a social group rather than a results-driven outfit, Tewkesbury found it tough in their debut season in Division Three of the County League, giving up six walkovers in their 20-game schedule, while also conceding double figures on three occasions as well as a seven, an eight and a nine. However, they made progress as time went on, with all those heavy defeats bar their final game coming before the end of October, while they beat Mitcheldean 1-0 in December.
17. ABBEYMEAD ROVERS
FINISHED second-from-bottom of Division One of the County League, above Longlevens, who they took four points from. They defeated Gloucester City too, but appeared in danger of not completing the season after failing to fulfil five of their 14 League fixtures, including all four away matches against the sides in the top half of the table. Had points been deducted for such cancellations, they would have been bottom of the table by some distance.