The Sunday Summary
It was a difficult week for Tuffley Rovers, but it ended on a high, as the Ladies’ team opened their Gloucestershire Women’s County League campaign with an emphatic 10-3 win at Southmead Community Sports on Sunday afternoon.
The first game of the week saw the First XI travel to play Brimscombe & Thrupp and a bad evening saw Rich Cox’s side slip to a 6-0 defeat, with the hosts scoring three times in each half without reply. Rovers’ day had started badly, with Luke Merchant ruled out and then a succession of goalkeepers unavailable, meaning outfield player Liam Wright ended up in goal.
After that difficult midweek game, it might be reasonable to assume our Hellenic League side would be looking forward to an FA Vase tie against lower division opposition, but another below par performance at Clanfield 85 FC saw the hosts record a 2-0 win that means Rovers have been dumped out of the FA Vase at the first hurdle for a second successive season.
We had another two games at Glevum Park over the weekend, with the Fourths and Fifths both hosting games, but both of those fixtures were to end in disappointment.
The Fourths conceded shortly before half-time against Stonehouse Town and as they started to chase for an equaliser, the visitors picked them off and eventually ran away with a 5-0 win, which was precisely the same scoreline in Gloster Rovers’ favour when the Fifths had entertained them in an earlier kick-off.
Thankfully, the third team did record a victory, with Alex Roder the star, as he recorded a hat-trick in his first senior performance, to take the man-of-the-match award for Dave Cornock and Luke Whittam’s side, who took all three points at Longford.
They say to save the best for last and that was the case for this week, as the Ladies’ result added some positivity amidst a difficult week! Goals from Ellie Windo, Holly Kay (2), Ellen Knight, Jess Dobbins (2), an OG, Robyn Lee, Danielle Prictor and Jayne Papps were just the fillip the club needed after a difficult few days and ahead of another important week of fixtures.
