20th April 2024 - Cheltenham Civil Service and Wick ensure County League places
Mark Simpson
Another busy afternoon, Cheltenham Civil Service avoid the drop and Hardwicke winning Almondsbury and Gala Wilton picking up useful points in their bids to stay up. In midweek Hanham Athletic won at Hardwicke 5-1, Stoke Gifford United won at Quedgeley Wanderers 3-0, Gala Wilton, Broadwell Amateurs and Bromley Heath United had 2-1 home victories over Sharpness, Ruardean Hill Rangers and Avonmouth respectively, Hanham Athletic beat Rockleaze Rangers 3-2 at home and Bromley Heath United drew 3-3 at home to Wick. Little Stoke v Almondsbury was postponed.
At Tewkesbury Road Cheltenham Civil Service needing to get the points in their final game of the season, in their bid to stay up, against a Hanham Athletic side who have played a fair amount of football recently. Both teams made a bright start and Sam Brown was in action fairly early on when he clawed out an attempted back header. And it was Service who took the lead when Ollie Wilkes wicked corner was met by Charlie Swift and into the net. Hanham started to control things with Brandon Barnes and Jamal Simms causing problems and they equalised when a ball in from Jacob Saunders wasn’t dealt with and Paul Coles stabbed the ball home. Barnes was linking well with Karim Rendall and almost beat Harvey Need with a long-range effort. It was Barnes who gave Hanham the lead when his 25-yard free kick found the top corner. Just before the break Service levelled matters when Lewis Driscoll beat two players, cut inside and beat Brown at his near post. From the restart Barnes attempted to beat Need straight from the kick off but the keeper back-pedalled and tipped over. Service started the second period well with Hanham starting to understandably look a bit weary. Efforts from Wilkes, Driscoll, and Dec Chick failed to trouble Brown but Swift saw his shot from the edge superbly saved. Then came more Driscoll magic, being played in down the right he delivered a wicked shot across goal which was deflected past Brown. Hanham went in search of another equaliser but Pete Guite and Mike Oliver needed to win a lot of aerial challenges, and Rendall’s thunderous strike was well saved by Need and then he found space on the edge but his attempted lob only found the arms of the keeper. In the final few minutes Service put the game to bed Joe Finch winning the ball played Driscoll in, at first Brown stopped his momentum, but after composing himself drilled the ball into the net for 4-2 win which keeps Service in the County League for next season.
At Fairmile Gardens Gala Wilton took on Bromley Heath United desperate for three points in their attempt to stay up. Bromley Heath had the first chance but Oscar Bignell made a good save. Gala looked to have taken a tenth minute lead following a goalmouth scramble but somehow a defender headed off the line. The rest of the first half saw good play from both sides and the nearest to a goal was Gala’s Jordan Molyneux whose shot was deflected narrowly wide. Gala came out strongly for the second half and nearly took a 51st minute lead but Will Ferguson denied Connor Walters and Keiron Mace’s header hit the bar from the resulting corner. Gala huffed and puffed searching for the win they needed but Bromley’s defence held firm and it started to look like Bromley might win it in the final ten minutes but two good saves by Bignell and the outside of the post saved Gala and 0-0 was probably the right result.
To the Bell Field, where Frampton United took on an Almondsbury side, themselves rather desperate for points, and they were unlucky not to take a second minute lead when a long range shot from Loui Ward struck the bar. Five minutes later they did take the lead when Ward headed in Oakley Dawes cross. Frampton slowly got into the game and a Mark Harper-Emerson shot was well saved by Burgess. Manolo Espada had a good chance in the 70th minute but dragged his shot wide. Frampton finally got on the scoresheet in the 79th minute when Myron Turner drilled in to the bottom corner. Almonds retook the lead on 83 when a deflected shot looped up and Tom Kaye tipped the ball onto the bar, from the rebound the ball was headed back and Kaye clawed it out but Dawes finally headed home. The final goal of the game came in the 86th minute when a George Driver-Dickerson cross found brother Henry at the back post for a 2-2 header.
Gala Wilton (Yellow/Black) v Bromley Heath United (Red), Images courtesy Peter Langley
Gala Wilton (Yellow/Black) v Bromley Heath United (Red), Images courtesy Peter Langley
Gala Wilton (Yellow/Black) v Bromley Heath United (Red), Images courtesy Peter Langley
Gala Wilton (Yellow/Black) v Bromley Heath United (Red), Images courtesy Peter Langley
Gala Wilton (Yellow/Black) v Bromley Heath United (Red) - Images courtesy Peter Langley
Gala Wilton (Yellow/Black) v Bromley Heath United (Red), Images courtesy Peter Langley
Gala Wilton (Yellow/Black) v Bromley Heath United (Red), Images courtesy Peter Langley
Gala Wilton (Yellow/Black) v Bromley Heath United (Red), Images courtesy Peter Langley
Gala Wilton (Yellow/Black) v Bromley Heath United (Red), Images courtesy Peter Langley
Gala Wilton (Yellow/Black) v Bromley Heath United (Red), Images courtesy Peter Langley
Gala Wilton (Yellow/Black) v Bromley Heath United (Red), Images courtesy Peter Langley
Gala Wilton (Yellow/Black) v Bromley Heath United (Red), Images courtesy Peter Langley
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A wonderful Spring afternoon at Hillside for Rockleaze Rangers last home match of the season against Little Stoke and the last ever match at Hillside Gardens before their merger with Henbury. As is their way on the 3G Rockleaze started well and took the lead three minutes in when Jordan Dent who has been plagued by injuries for two seasons stooped to divert a header past Goradz Gigov from Kacper Kalkowski’s cross. It was Dent again on 14 minutes tapping in from 2 yards after Gigov spilled George James goal bound effort. But on twenty Little Stoke were back in it when Jordan Buckett gave the ball away trying to pass into midfield but it found its way to Alex Hill who fired past debutant keeper Alex Durrani. On 27 minutes Dent came close to his hat-trick when he narrowly shot over after good work by Marcus Williams. Little Stoke nearly equalised two minutes from the break but a superb Duranni save prevented Danny Lane from finding the net. The last action of the half saw Nick Jones hit the inside of the post and the ball was hacked to safety. The second half wasn’t quite as exciting with the heat rather taking its toll but Rockleaze started the stronger and scored their third three minutes in, when Williams rose highest from Kalkowski’s corner for a bullet header. Both teams huffed and puffed and the final ball always seemed to be missing. But, the final goal and best of the afternoon went to the hosts when Tate Shaw worked the ball onto his left foot and sent an unstoppable thunderbolt into the corner of the net and a 4-1 win.
Broadwell Amateurs were the visitors to Wick, both still needing points to stay up. And after a fairly even start only a last-ditch tackle stopped Wick’s Ash Hawkins when put through on goal. On 15 minutes it was Hawkins again who evaded the Broadwell defence to lob Jack Watkins for 1-0. The game opened up more with chances at both ends but on 25 minutes Tommy Longhurst sent in a great cross which was knocked back in for Louis Short to fire in Wick’s second. Broadwell came close on the half hour but were thwarted by a goal line clearance, and on 40 a cracking Broadwell free kick brought an equally cracking save from Ashton Trott. Wick started the second half pressing Broadwell back and Liam Jenkins had a clear sight on goal but his shot cleared the bar. With few goal chances either end Wick rode their luck when Broadwell hit the inside of the post, but with two minutes into added time Short sealed the points for Wick and a 3-0 win.
Perfect playing conditions led to an enthralling encounter between Stoke Gifford United and Sharpness at the Stoke Gifford Stadium. The Sharks caused the Gifford defence problems from the off and were two up with goals from James Priday and Will Tainton. But a change of system brought Gifford an immediate response and Spike Weaver scored a quick fire double to level things up. Both teams had chances but Gifford began to get the upper hand. The second half started with Gifford pushing forward and Rudy Hill gave them the lead only for George Thomas to square thing up again. Giffords winner came from Spike Weaver and his hat-trick and they held out for all three points at 4-3.
Avonmouth’s visit to Green Lane to take on Hardwicke in a top v bottom clash. Hardwicke’s surprising win came with goals from Harley Mustoe and Danes-Rutherford with Josh Pearce replying for the Champions in a 2-1 Hardwicke win, giving them at least some hope of surviving.
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