Gloucestershire Northern Senior League round-up

SHARPNESS suffered a rare home defeat on Saturday as they went down to their second reverse in five Gloucestershire Northern Senior League first division games so far against Bibury.

However, it was not without trying that Sharpness lost out as the match was a thriller in which seven goals found the back of the respective nets.

Sharpness found themselves 3-1 down at the interval but fought back to come within an ace of snatching a draw but Bibury, for whom James Keylock scored twice, held out for a 4-3 victory.

So Sharpness, who are in third in the table and level on points with Charlton Rovers, will be looking to bounce back with avengeance on Saturday and return to the top of the league – as they are only a point behind top dogs Taverners at the moment - when they host mid-table Harrow Hill.

Ironically, Harrow Hill were on the end of a 4-3 defeat on Saturday as they travelled to Berkeley Town.

And it was a quite incredible match as Berkeley looked out of it when Daniel Mason, Liam Thomas and Shaun Tingle scored in the first-half for Harrow Hill only for that seemingly comfortable position to fall apart.

Berkeley turned their poor first-half into a second period rampage as Daniel Gayner, Pete Lavis, Tom Lamondby and Sam Stickland all scored and gave Town the victory that puts them into sixth place in the table.

Berkeley will be hoping not to have to pull off another Houdini act like that when they take on Bredon on Saturday at Station Road.

But it was no luck again for Cam Bulldogs, who are 13th and struggling at the wrong end of the league. They went down 5-1 away to fourth-placed Ruardean Hill Rangers.

Wotton Rovers, meanwhile, will be kicking themselves that they did not push on and collect all three points in their second division clash at home to struggling Smiths Athletic.

Wotton were 2-0 up at the interval after Nick Bird and Ben Smith found the opposition net in the first-half.

However, they let Smiths off the hook and goals from Stephen Zasikowski and sub Pawel Sliwinski saw the visiting side level and claim a point.

Wotton are sixth in the second division after this result.