So, where exactly is Aylburton then? Anyone know? Anyone care? Well, yes, they do, actually – the Reserve team cares, because that is where they have got to head off to on Saturday as their "reward" for overcoming Brockworth Albion Reserves in the 1^st round of the County Junior Cup.

Apparently, it is just south of Lydney, would you believe, on the A48 or, in rather more meaningful terms, well over an hour away. But then again, if the Reserves insist on going and doing things like scoring a winning goal in the 106^th minute of a GFA competition, this is the sort of thing that might always lie in wait for them.

So what do we know about their opponents, Aylburton Rovers. Well, to start with, not surprisingly, they are members of the North Gloucestershire League, in which they play in the Premier Division. They finished in fourth position last season and are currently lying in third place this season, having won four and drawn two of their matches to date. The most recent of these drawn games was played last Saturday, when they shared the points, at home against Staunton & Corse, following a 10 goal thriller that ended up 5-5. They beat Westbury United, with whom the first team locked horns the year we were relegated from the Northern Senior League and who are in the same Division of the same League as Aylburton are, 4-0 away in the first round. They play in red and white and, well, that’s about it. Oh, apart from the fact that this is likely to be a real test for the Reserve team and one that they will be determined to match head on.  To do so, the squad is pretty much at full strength, although the continued absence of both Mark Hallett and Nick Charlton does mean that Matt Hall has been drafted in to cover between the sticks.

Whilst the Reserves head off towards Wales sometime on Saturday morning for their 2.00 kick off on the west bank the first team will be about 10 miles away, on the other side of the river, admittedly, at Cam taking on the Bulldogs. Cam Bulldogs have been in the Northern Senior League for so long that there are numerous of the League’s rules that, seemingly, just don’t apply to them, such as the minimum dimensions of the pitch, but, even so, they have not made a particularly auspicious start to the season. Five defeats in their first 7 games of the season, the latest of which was a 4-0 reverse at home to Broadwell Amateurs 2 weeks ago, have left them in the relegation zone so, no doubt, they will be hoping to replicate the form from last year that saw them take 4 points from us, especially as there were also dumped out of the Senior Amateur Cup, 4-1 by Shortwood and again at home, last week. Last time the first team had a week off, though, they returned from their enforced break with their best performance of the season, which produced the 3-1 win at Sharpness, so spirits should be good as the team heads off down the eastern bank of the River Severn.  James Gowing has been included in the squad for the first time since recovering from injury and Garth Powell is also retained to add antipodean muscle to the back line

The Third team, meanwhile, is at home again, in the Cheltenham League this time and against Apperley and Tewkesbury Dynamos III in a Division Five match. The team that will be visiting Bishops Cleeve this weekend used to be Tewkesbury Dynamos Reserves before the merger of the two clubs that were sharing the use of Apperley Playing fields but, since becoming the third string side of the new club, the team has not faired as well as it might have hoped having finished a respectable eighth last season. In fact, going into this weekend’s games, the third team’s visitors on Saturday are just one place off the bottom of the Division Five table, with only a single point to show from their first five games and with only goal difference keeping them above Charlton Rovers III. Their inauspicious start to the season got even worse last weekend when they were knocked out of the GFA Primary Cup by Division Six side Cheltenham Saracens V, 2-1 at home. The two games against Tewkesbury Dynamos Reserves last season produced a 3-3 draw at home this time last year but a 4-1 away win last February and the thirds will be expecting to take the confidence generated from their excellent 6-0 win in the cup last weekend with them as they get back to their League campaign.  Andy Herbert, who is recovering from a recent injury, is added to the squad as he is cup-tied for the Reserves and Andy Southwell also makes a welcome return following recent unavailability