YATE TOWN pulled out to stops last Saturday. It is not very often that a Football League club would send a squad to Lodge Road for a game, but Bristol Rovers did just that last weekend.

There must have been a good eight or nine hundred people who turned up for the game, if not a thousand or so, and Yate did themselves proud against Rovers reserves and trialists who are looking to get professional contracts at the League Two outfit.

It was a goal-less draw but Yate had their chances and half-chances - several of them - to win the match by three or four. Yate’s application in the game was creditable. They soaked up pressure in the first-half and finished the game the stronger despite boiling conditions that lead to two in-match drinks breaks.

Rovers’ first-team were actually playing at the same time on Saturday afternoon down in Melksham, and, if that was the case, you would think the visiting fans would have gone there rather than Yate. However, Rovers turned out in force and, despite no gas coming from the Gas – singing, that is – their presence helped boost the coffers of a non-league outfit that, like every other club, could do with a few more pennies in the till at the moment.

But if credit is due at all, then it is to the management and players of Yate. Twelve months ago, manager Paul Britton was trying desperately to put a side together after the defection of a number of players elsewhere around Bristol non-league sides and, as a result, the club did not get their act together for quite a while as, some came and went from Lodge Road. Britton had to try and rebuild from scratch.

The emphasis was on youth and it still is. Now, though, Britton, along with his coaching staff, find themselves in a much better place and on Saturday played like a team which could go places in the Southern League.

Many other Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire non-league clubs begin their pre-season campaigns this Saturday, and the fixtures for the new Southern League Division One West, which is replacing the Division One South and West brand and involves Yate and Slimbridge, come out on Wednesday.

But, just 41 days after Arsenal beat Chelsea in last season’s Wembley final, the 2017/18 FA Cup draw has been made.

It all kicks-off on August 5 with the extra preliminary round, but Yate and Slimbridge have been drawn in the first preliminary round which takes place the following weekend.

Yate are away to the winners of Bristol teams Cadbury Heath or Longwell Green Sports. Ironically, the Bluebells take on Longwell Green in a pre-season friendly, while Slimbridge are home to Cinderford Town, a tough match against Gloucestershire rivals.

Meanwhile, in the world of cricket, what a fantastic occasion and a fantastic end to a match the Brightside Ground enjoyed on Sunday when England beat Australia in the Women’s World Cup!

England won by just three runs for their first victory over the old enemy since 1993. England play again in Bristol on Saturday when the West Indies are the opposition and a win there should put them in a great place going into the knock-out competition.

And what a dramatic end to Gloucestershire’s T20 Blast contest against Middlesex at Cheltenham on Friday. Benny Howell and Tom Smith combined to take an amazing final wicket as the teams tied the match, both scoring 182. That is called getting your monies worth!

Forest Green Rovers latest news? Gloucester Rugby fixtures coming out last Friday? How much more sport can you take?

Well, there is only one place left to finish and that is the amazing rugby match in Auckland which involved former Thornbury Bronco prop Mako Vunipola.

The British and Irish Lions, expected to be whitewashed by New Zealand in the three-Test series, finished by drawing it, the first time that has happened since the 1955 tour of South African by the Lions.

The All Blacks won the first Test, the Lions hit back in the second and the third was drawn 15-15.

Yet, there were some commentators on the radio after the match who were bemoaning the fact that neither side won the series. They talked rubbish, claiming it was not a good series result. Do we need to adopt an American culture on top tier internationals that every game in every sport must produce a winner? Good job the Americans don’t play cricket!

Far more consequential is that, when New Zealand captain Keiran Read and Lions skipper Sam Warburton held the trophy aloft side-by-side and praised each other on an epic tournament, that meant far more than one team won and the other didn’t.

And, after the post-match speeches to the crowd, some broadcasters were trying to figure out what to say about a draw, and missing out on a choir at Eden Park singing the traditional parting hymn for the Lions tours of New Zealand - ‘Now Is The Hour’ - in the background. That is like talking over the FA Cup Final hymn Abide With Me.

There have been radio debates as well about the future of the Lions, but Warburton summed that up by thanking the legions of fans who spent thousands of pounds travelling to the other side of the world to watch THEIR team tackle the world champions.

It is only a shame that the next Lions tour to New Zealand is twelve years away. After a series like this, we would all wish they would play each other every year.