3rd May 2026 - Filton keep title race alive
Mark Simpson
Sharpness took another step towards the title with a convincing home win although Filton kept in touch with a useful away win themselves. The relegation positions are virtually confimed with Hanham already down and Cribbs will join them unless Totterdown manage to lose 32-0 in their final game.
After all but securing their County League status last Tuesday Totterdown United welcomed high-flying Filton Athletic to Norton Lane, and had a dreadful start to the game by conceding in the first five minutes when a ball over the top was pounced on by Trey Merrett and a very nice finish lobbing Ashley Martin from 18 yards out. Filton had the majority of possession in the first half but Totterdown held their shape well and made themselves hard to break down whilst trying to threaten on the counter. Filton provided some threat from corners but only managed misplaced headers. Totterdown started the second half very well and played some nice football creating a few chances. Filton always posed an attacking threat even when on the backfoot forcing 4 or 5 good saves from Ashley Martin. The game was pretty well end to end and Totterdown had a decent chance when Ollie Lovell was through on goal but couldn’t get the ball out of his feet to get a shot away. It was around the 70th minute when Filton punished Totterdown with an attack and a strikers finish from Kieron Cooper. Totterdown got a consolation in the last five minutes as Jack Thorley assisted George Saunders to place the ball past the keeper, but Filton keep in touch at the top with this 2-1 win.
With Tewkesbury Town looking for a third-place spot and Frampton United looking to see if they can climb up from sixth place the first thirty minutes was an end-to-end affair with Jamie Goodwin making the Frampton defence hard to keep the League’s top scorer under wraps. A pot shot from Alex Roder saw Tom Kaye make a routine save. The Frampton attack was causing the Town defence problems but they managed to cancel them out. Joe Poole made a fine save to keep Frampton out but, they managed to break the deadlock 10 minutes before the break when a corner was driven to an unmarked Dom Brown who powered a header in. The second half was a well contested battle but midway through the half Scott Nicholls lunged in to give a penalty away which Poole made a great save from. Frampton doubled their lead shortly after when neither the Town defence or keeper Poole committed themselves allowing Joe Spill to drive home. Town pressed forward to try and reduce the deficit but left themselves exposed at the back allowing Kris Bulley to score and secure a 3-0 Frampton win.
It was certainly a game of two halves weather wise with the first half in bright sunshine and the second half in monsoon conditions at Arnall Drive for Henbury & Rockleaze against Quedgeley Wanderers. The game was a typical end of season affair with neither team having much to play for and QW looking forward to a League Cup semi-final. Neither keeper had much to do all game with the only real effort in the first half being H&R’s goal which came from a tantalising free kick from Jack Mills which Jordan Buckett got a run on his man to nod home. The second half saw a bit more action and on 51 minutes Steve Sparrow in the QW goal saved well from Matt Harrison’s attempt but just two minutes later Seb Keith struck the ball home from 18 yards, giving Harry Trett no chance, and 1-1 it was. On 73 minutes Fin Jenner had a shot well fielded by Trett but the game petered out in the rain with the sides sharing the points.
At the Hawthorns Broadwell Amateurs were out of the blocks fast against Tytherington Rocks with a first County League goal for 17-year-old Liam Brain following good work from Kristian Burnard in the channel, setting back for Kian Skidmore and a first time deep cross which Brain calmly controlled and smashed into the roof of the net. Tytherington had a chance to level within minutes from a penalty which struck the base of the post with the rebound goal disallowed. The second half was a fairly even affair until Tytherington equalised 20 minutes from the end with the ball smashed across the box and an unmarked Waterman providing the finishing touch. Tytherington finished the stronger of the two teams and found a winner from a corner and a near post header flicked in to the net by Sims to give them a 2-1 win and three points.
At Hamfields Sharpness comfortably beat Ruardean Hill Rangers 5-1 to stay nine points clear of Filton at the top. Sharpness scorers Will Tainton (2), Jack Smith, Tom Frankham, and Ben Hemmings. Fin Jones scoring for Ruardean.
