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Another Saturday in December, another week when only two of our teams will be in action. This week, it is the Reserve team who have a week off whilst the First team are on their travels in Division One of the Northern Senior League and the third team are in cup action at home again, this time in the Minor Charity Cup. The only Saturday this month which bucks the general trend of having only two teams playing is December 27^th – when no one has a game!! For the second time within a month, the First team will be travelling down to the other end of the Golden Valley bypass, this time to take on Gala Wilton. Last time they were in these parts, they met the League Leaders, Longlevens, whilst the Reserve team were just down the road, winning 4-3 on the very pitch on which the firsts will be striving for three points this Saturday, so hopefully this will prove to be a good omen. Gala Wilton preceded the First team as champions of the Cheltenham League by 12 months, winning themselves a place in the Northern Senior League in 2005 by finishing 2 points ahead of Hatherley Rangers in a title race that was only settled by the last game of the season. They then spent three seasons in Division Two, finishing 4^th and 5 points adrift of promotion when the firsts won promotion in 2007 as Division Two runners-up. Last season, however, they won Division Two by the impressive margin of 10 points and, so far this campaign, have acquitted themselves well at the higher level. Currently, they have two more points from one more game played than the First team and have met with mixed fortunes both at home and away. Their ground is next door to Plock Court, boasting a large flat pitch and they have won three but lost two of the games that they have played there in the League this season. Indeed, their last home game was a disappointing 4-0 defeat against Shortwood United Reserves that they will, no doubt, be keen to improve upon, especially as they gained a 4-0 victory themselves last time out, away at Wotton Rovers. However, the first team do tend to reserve their best performances for their travels away from Cheltenham Road. The Third team will not only be aiming to make a Quarter Final for the second time in as many weeks but they will also be hoping to improve upon the last time the two sides met when they welcome Apperley & Tewkesbury Dynamos III to Cheltenham Road for a Minor Charity Cup 2^nd Round match. That match was only at the beginning of November, at a time when Saturday’s visitors were languishing at the bottom of the table but it took a last minute strike from Kevin McCrea to make sure that the thirds claimed a share of the spoils from a game in which they had fallen behind in the 40^th minute. Since this game, Apperley & Tewkesbury Dynamos – who will, once again, be referred to hereinafter as “A&TD”, in order to ward off any possible Repetitive Strain Injury – won their next three fixtures, two of which were away, to lift themselves up to 9^th in the table. The winning run was brought to an end by a derby match 1-0 defeat against Tewkesbury Town Reserves but all the signs suggest that A&TD are a different outfit to the one that lost 4 of their first 5 games of the season. The thirds, meanwhile, were Semi-Finalists in this Competition last season and will be hoping to go one better this time out. The league game against A&TD at the beginning of last month wasn’t quite the watershed that it proved to be for their opponents, as it was the fourth of five consecutive draws, but once it had been immediately followed by a 3-3 tie at FC Electrics the following week, the thirds then won three games in a row themselves, and in impressively emphatic fashion too.