Whisper it quietly but, if the weather finally relents and the Atlantic Ocean is allowed to stay where it is, and no one dredges up a postponed cup game that needs to be fitted in at the expense of a League game, it is possible, if not probable, that all three of the club’s sides will be in action, as scheduled, this coming weekend.

The Firsts and the Reserves actually managed to make it out on to the playing fields that had been recently reclaimed from the River Cleeve last Saturday and met with mixed fortunes as the third team were granted another week off, courtesy of the need for Belmore United to fulfil a County Cup fixture against Whitminster that had been rained off the week before. This weekend, though, there is no such impediment and all three teams will be hoping to garner maximum points from the first full weekend of the season.

The first team travel to Brockworth Albion still harbouring the belief that they should have gained rather more than a single goal defeat when they played Brimscombe & Thrupp last Saturday. The makeshift side available to manager Mark Jacobsen performed magnificently and few would have guessed that, in amongst their ranks, were two thirds of last season’s reserve team back line and a player who was previously in the third team squad. At the same time last year, the full strength first team were succumbing to a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of the same opponents and so those involved can take great pride in the fact that they felt genuinely disappointed not to have taken something from the game. Brockworth Albion, meanwhile, were losing 5-0 at Broadwell Amateurs and will go into their first home game of the season hoping to replicate the form that saw them battle back from 3-0 against us last season before claiming a point. The First team, meanwhile, will be hoping, themselves, to take another 3-0 lead and to hang on to it this time!! The team itself adopts a more familiar look this week, with Mark Cottell and Dan Wood, returning to the Reserves but John Marchant, who also made his 1^st team debut against Brimscombe & Thrupp as a second half substitute, retaining his place in the absence of Simon Delaney. Frank Ashworth and Rick Redfearn return to compete for places in midfield, whilst defensive anchorman Steve Bermingham and Team Captain Tim Jones are also both available once more.

The Reserves, meanwhile, travel to The Folly to meet Cheltenham Saracens III. Up until now, the Reserves have scored 15 goals in registering 9 points from their first three games of the season but, as these have all been played at home, the visit to the Saracens will provide their biggest test so far, even though their hosts have lost all three of their opening fixtures. Last season, the Reserves twice hit their opponents this week for six, beating them 6-1 at home in December and then 6-2 away a few weeks later at the beginning of February. Saracens thirds, however, will be smarting from their start to the season and will be eager to play their part in trying to ensure that a repeat of last Saturday, when each of the club’s five teams fell to defeat, is avoided. If anything, however, the Reserves will be stronger than the unit that put 5 past the reigning Division Three Champions, Winchcombe Town Reserves, last Saturday. As previously mentioned, Dan Wood and Mark Cottell return from first team duty and the side also welcomes back last season’s leading scorer, Jamie Roberts, and midfielder Mike Thompson, who has now recovered from injury.

The Third team will finally make it on to the pitch this weekend when they welcome Gala Wilton III to Bishops Cleeve. Both of the thirds’ originally scheduled opening fixtures were cancelled because of the County Cup commitments of their prospective opponents, these being C & G two weeks ago and Belmore United last week, and an attempt to move the home game against Charlton Kings from mid November to early September, ostensibly to avoid bad weather, was scuppered when it rained so much that some bloke with a long beard started building an ark in the access road. Gala Wilton haven’t played a league game yet either but they did manage to get 90 minutes against Stonehouse Town IV last weekend, in the County Cup. They won this match 3-0 to progress to the next round, next week and will be hoping to use the match on Saturday as the springboard to regaining their Division 4 status, which they lost last season. With the third team looking to go at least one better than last season’s third place this time round, it should be a good game, so long as the home side forget that they usually start the season like a derailed train. Hopefully, now that the campaign is three weeks old, this shouldn’t be quite such a problem. The squad selected for this belated first match of the season sees the inclusion of 2^nd team squad members Guy Tyrell, Sam Bunker and Rob Vaughan, all of whom joined the club during the close season, as well as other newcomers Kevin McCrea, Craig Mortiboys and Andy Southwell. Just to lend a more familiar feel to the side, Brian Watts and Jon Carpenter will be looking forward to their 10^th season with the club and player manager Mark Elliot will be hoping to continue the goalscoring form that flowered so unexpectedly at the tailend of last season.