Bishops Cleeve Ladies, who have won three on the bounce in the league, are playing their second consecutive match in Bristol this Sunday as they take on Mangotsfield United Reserves.
Cup fever is sure to be in the air for the Mitres on Sunday, as they face tier-below Mangotsfield United Reserves in the Gordon Perrett Cup, a knockout competition for teams in division one and two of the Gloucestershire County Women’s League.
Chris Gough’s side, are on a run of three wins in a row recovering from a poor start to the season which saw them get knocked out of the FA Cup at the hands of Corsham Town, and losing their first two games in the league to Hartpury and Olveston.
Ahead of their clash this weekend, we spoke to defensive midfielder Lottie Winter, who has a goal and assist to her name so far this season.
“[We’re] feeling good”, Winter told us. “We’ve not played this team before, we’ve played their first team but never their reserves, so we’ll take it as it comes.”
Mangotsfield Reserves reside in the league below Cleeve (division two), but are facing relegation. They’re firmly bottom of the table with one win out of a possible seven, losing the other six, with a highly concerning goal difference of -20.
They’ve also happened to play more games than anyone else in the division. For comparison, Ellwood sit above them only on goal difference, but have played four less matches.
Referencing her own side’s poor form which they seem to have, at least for now, overcome, Winter added: “[We’ll] hopefully play a bit better than we have been at the beginning of the season.”
Most would agree that their lowest point at the beginning of the campaign was their 7-1 home loss to Hartpury on the opening game of the league season, in front of a crowd of more than 100 Mitres at Kayte Lane.
Hartpury, however, are league newcomers and arguably way below their actual level with a few of their players on dual-registrations, playing both in tier seven and five.
Things have improved since then, with Gough’s side now sat sixth in the table. Their last game, a 2-1 victory on the road to AEK Boco Reserves, was the final of three consecutive wins, all coming on the road.
Reflecting on that result, Winter said: “It was really tough conditions, so I think as a team we really dug in, especially in that second half. (We) did what we could, and it’s just finally good to find some form in the league.”
She also grabbed the assist for the winning goal, setting up Leonie Gough to fire home her third of the season following a scramble in the host’s penalty area.
74’ | GOALLLL!!!! pic.twitter.com/CNuG2yov4T
— Bishops Cleeve Ladies FC (@cleeveladies_fc) November 2, 2025
She added: “Honestly, I’m just glad I got on the end of it! It was more of a ‘swing a limb and see what happens’ and it managed to go in my favour.”
Kick-off this weekend is at 2pm, and the venue is Winterbourne Academy, ironically a 15 minute drive away from Mangotsfield.
