So, thanks to the fact that they got themselves knocked out of the Minor Charity Cup by Apperley & Tewkesbury Dynamos III on penalties just before Christmas, the thirds don’t have any opponents this week, as Apperley & Tewkesbury Dynamos III, who they were supposed to be playing, will be making their third attempt to get through their quarter final.  If 4 out of five players hadn’t missed from 12 yards, that might have been the third team, but they didn’t, so is isn’t and the club only has two teams in action this weekend as a consequence.

The first team are due to be at home which, now that the ice sheet has subsided a bit, pretty much means that they will actually be playing for the first time in just under a month.  The team’s last match was the 2-0 home victory over Brockworth Albion on January 24^th and Cam Bulldogs, this weekend’s opponents, will arrive with one less point than the total gained by the last team to visit Cheltenham Road.  The Bulldogs of Cam are a long time established Northern Senior League club, who have been in the League for so long that numerous of its rather more recent rules, such as the limitations on the size of the pitch, just don’t apply but they have not been having one of their better seasons this year.  They will arrive on Saturday in the enviable position, given the meteorologically challenging times in which we have recently been living, of having entered the second half of their season as they have already completed 16 games but, on the down side, only three of those games have been won.  However, their two most recent successes have both been away from home, by 3-0 at Wotton the day after Boxing Day and 2-1 at Cheltenham Civil Service at the beginning of November, whilst they have also gained points from drawing both games against Shortwood United, 1-1 at home just three weeks ago and 2-2 at Shortwood back in October.  Their other win, their only success at home all season, was the 2-0 victory over Shortwood in September and when the firsts travelled to Cam at the beginning of November, they returned with all three points courtesy of James Gowing’s goal midway through the second half.  Shaun Gluyas is due to actually miss this game as he remains unavailable and Chris Peach is still injured but the side otherwise expects to be at full strength as it gets back into action for the first time in a month

For the second week in a row, and the second match in three consecutive fixtures, the Reserves are on their travels this week as they head, once again, along Seven Bends Road, this time to Northway.  Spirits should be high following the excellent 5-1 away-day success at Bredon last week but Northway should not be under-estimated, primarily because their season has had a very unconventional feel to it.  The changing facilities at their home ground at Ashchurch Playing Fields suffered significant damage during the floods of 2007 and they only started playing there again in November 2008.  Whilst this meant that they spent the whole of last season playing at KGV in Cheltenham, it also meant that they didn’t play a match at home during this campaign until November 15^th.  This is the reason that the Reserves have three away games on the trot – the game at Northway was due to be played in September, but it was switched and played at Cheltenham Road instead – and Northway actually played their first six league games on the road whilst they were waiting for the remedial work at Ashchurch to be completed.  Since then, they have only played away twice more, with the last occasion being on December 6^th, but they have, now, played 6 home matches and they have yet to lose.  Three wins and three draws have made it a happy homecoming for the team that was relegated from the First Division last season with negative points!  They have gained home victories over Northleach, who were their first opponents at Ashchurch for 18 months, 7-4 in November and have since followed this up with 6-1 and 4-2 successes against Cheltenham Saracens and Cheltenham Civil Service respectively.  Their last two home games have been drawn, however, 2-2 against Bredon three weeks ago and 1-1 against Dowty Dynamos last Saturday, to add to the very creditable 1-1 scoreline they achieved against Whaddon United Reserves at the end of November.  For the Reserves, Jamie Roberts is now just one goal away from equalling the club's goal scoring record and Guy Tyrell is recalled from the third team