“I’m feeling fit and raring to go” Langworthy hopeful of another successful season for Cleeve ahead of Severn Sport Shield final

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Bishops Cleeve Captain Ross Langworthy says he is ready for the challenge of the new season and hopes his side can use their Severn Sport Shield final as a chance to start another successful campaign.

Cleeve were beaten in the Southern League Division One South play-offs by Malvern Town and after making a number of eye-catching signings, will be one of the favourites for promotion once again.

The Mitres were made to work hard in their Severn Sport Shield Semi Final win over Longlevens on Wednesday night and after initially trailing, Langworthy himself scored twice before Cleeve ultimately ran out 5-2 winners and the striker admits that whilst it was nice to score two more in pre-season, there was disappointment in the changing room with the overall team display.

“Last night was a tough game, Longlevens are always an honest outfit and they caused us a few problems,” admitted Langworthy.

“We tried a few new things which is always useful in pre-season, but I don’t think we gave the best account of ourselves as a squad. Having said that, we created some good chances and scored some good goals.

It was nice to get on the scoresheet again with another two, it’s always good as a forward to score a few in pre season to give yourself the best chance of hitting the ground running when it really counts.

I’m feeling fit and raring to go for the new season,” added Langworthy.

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Cleeve’s win sets up a Severn Sport Shield final showdown with Gloucester City, nearly 15 months after the Mitres pushed the Tigers all the way to penalties in the County Cup final at the TigerTurf Stadium.

Since then the two sides have met in a pre-season game and last season’s County Cup, albeit with a younger City squad, but Cleeve have been victorious on both occasions.

Going into the final, Langworthy hopes that his side will once again give another good account of themselves against higher level opposition.

“We’ve given Gloucester some good games over the past couple of years, having beaten them 4-1 last pre season and then going on to have a brilliant season as a club.

Competing with higher level teams can give you a good indication of what’s possible with the squad that you have and we’re hoping for a good competitive match against a team gunning for promotion in the league above -it would be the ideal preparation for us as a group [to win the game],” said Langworthy.

As mentioned, Cleeve had made a number of eye-catching signings during the summer, with Jack Watts and Lewis Spurrier amongst the new recruits, but Langworthy has played down talk of expectations for Cleeve to kick on this season and stresses the importance of not taking anything for granted and making sure the Mitres play to their abilities all season long.

“We’ve recruited some excellent local players and built a strong squad, there’s competition for places all over the pitch which you need if you’re going to achieve anything.

Last year we had a fantastic season as a club, if we can replicate or even better it that would be great, but it’s definitely not taken for granted.

Whilst we’ve recruited well and built a strong squad with depth, the league looks strong and there’s definitely going to be a lot of teams hoping to be in and around the top five come the end of the season.

We’ve got to do everything we can to make sure we’re one of those, and that’s the aim of everyone involved,” Langworthy added.

Bishops Cleeve take on Gloucester City on Saturday 12 July in the Severn Sport Shield Final, kick off at the TigerTurf Stadium; 15:30

Click here to purchase tickets for the Severn Sport Shield games, as well as a number of City’s home pre-season friendlies.

Cover photo taken by and copyright to Henry Nunn. Click here to check out his Instagram page and view his wonderful Bishops Cleeve photos

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