Two teams with away games and one with a home fixture this weekend but two teams playing at Cheltenham Road and only one on their travels.  Confused?  Well, if you are, it must be because its time, once again, for one of our sides to “make the trip” to play AC Olympia.

Its not the first team, naturally, and, indeed, they are the only side not playing in Bishop’s Cleeve this weekend as they are required to travel to Kingswood instead.  The two sides have not yet played each other this season, as the originally scheduled match at Cheltenham Road on October 4^th was cancelled because AC Olympia and the Reserves were both at home in the County Cup that day.  This match has now been rearranged for April 16^th but, in the meantime, both sides will be keen to grab all three points on Saturday.   Overall, Kingswood have a pretty good home record, boasting some really impressive victories such as the 4-1 win over Gala Wilton a fortnight ago, a 4-0 victory over Lydbrook at the turn of the year and, also, 6-0, 4-1 and 5-2 successes over Ramblers, Brockworth and Shortwood respectively.  However, there are also some anomalies, such as the 2-1 reverse suffered at home to Tetbury Town and the 3-3 draw against Cheltenham Civil Service that punctuate an otherwise pretty impressive portfolio of home form.   Their away record is no where near as noteworthy and it is their struggles when away from more familiar surroundings that leave them just off the pace at the top, tucked in behind Brimscombe & Thrupp and Longlevens.  With 9 of their home games already played, however, they will be keen to make the most of one their few remaining opportunities to take advantage of their imposing home form.

The Reserve team’s first away game in the League since 22^nd November will actually involve them in 150 yards less travel than is normally required for a home fixture, because their hosts are AC Olympia and that, naturally enough, means that the match will be played on the Northern Senior League pitch at Cheltenham Road.  So far this season, the Reserves have played two “home” games on this pitch and have yet to concede a goal, winning 1-0 against Bredon in the League and 3-0 at home to Apperley & Tewkesbury Dynamos in the County Cup at the beginning of December.  AC Olympia haven’t played very many more matches on the pitch themselves, as their last home game in the League was also just over two months ago.  In all, they have hosted only five games in Division Two all season, with the stand-out results being the 5-1 win over Brockworth in the autumn and the 6-1 success over Cheltenham Saracens III the last time they staged a League match.  The two sides have already met this season, when it was deemed to be the Reserves that were at home, and an eventful game saw Star fall two behind in 20 minutes – the first goal of which was scored by Richard Gill, who was not our Richard Gill but who was the Richard Gill who was making his debut in goal for AC Olympia and who scored with a kick from his hands that traversed the whole length of the pitch before hitting the back of the net – before eventually running out 4-2 winners.  Our goalscorers that day were Jamie Roberts and Scott Saurin, both of whom scored two and both of whom have gone on to make a valued combined contribution of 39 goals to the team’s cause so far this season.

The third team are actually really at home this coming weekend and welcome Tewkesbury Town Reserves to Cheltenham Road on Saturday.   Tewkesbury have been there or there-abouts at the top of the table for most of the season and were, in fact, the League leaders when they played host to the third team back at the beginning of October.   At this stage of the season, the thirds had won both of the two matches that they had managed to play and both by the odd goal – 3-2 in the last minute against Gala Wilton in the League and 4-3 behind the razor wire against Stroud Harriers in the County Cup – and, at the time, the point gained from the 3-3 draw played out at Tewkesbury School was generally acknowledged as a good point won.  However, this draw proved to be the first of 5 consecutive deadlocks that seemed, for a while, to have seriously undermined the side’s ambitions in the League for the current campaign.   For their part, Tewkesbury Town Reserves have singularly failed to rediscover the consistency that was inherent in their early season displays, when they won their first three games to sit on top of the Division as September became October.  Since then, although they have been capable of excellent results, as witnessed by the 2-1 home success over the, otherwise, all conquering current League leaders, C & G, they have also registered some rather more disappointing returns, such as a 3-2 defeat at Charlton Kings and a 2-2 home draw with Charlton Rovers.  In fact, Tewkesbury Town’s away form has been a bit of a problem, with a 3-1 defeat at Cleevonians and another 4-1 defeat at Charlton Kings, in the Charity Cup just before Christmas, to also be taken into consideration. Last weekend, as the thirds were winning 1-0 at Gala to move up to third spot, just one point behind Tewkesbury Town, this weekend’s visitors were being held, 3-3, away to Belmore United.