Bishops Cleeve win the 2025 Severn Sport Shield against Gloucester City; Fairford claim third with victory over Longlevens
Bishops Cleeve won the Severn Sport Shield for the first time on Saturday, beating hosts Gloucester City 4-2 at a hot TigerTurf Stadium.
Both sides secured their place in the final in midweek, however both knew they could play much better than their Semi Final showings would suggest.
After an opening 12 minutes that saw City go close through Kieran Phillips and Harry Emmett, it was Cleeve who would strike first.
City keeper Jared Thompson dwelled on the ball for too long, kicked it against Jack Watts and the ball was rolled into an empty net by Ross Langworthy.
Whilst the Shield goalscoring records are unofficial, Langworthy is believed to be the tournaments top scorer since it’s inception in 2018 and he took his tally for the 2025 competition to three with the simplest of tasks.
From there Gloucester were second best for large spells of the game, even so, when Michael O’Regan headed home a leveller on 19 minutes.
The defender, who signed from Evesham United, got up well to head home from a corner into the box.
But two goals in the final moments of the first half saw the Mitres put one hand on the Shield.
First, a diagonal was latched onto by Jay Malshanskyj, who raced down the left and centred for Jack Watts to side foot home.
Then, Malshanskyj took advantage of a slip from Ben Morgan to go through on goal and slot past Thompson to make it 3-1 at half time.
Malshanskyj would go on to add a fourth for his side with eight minutes to go, securing the Shield and ensuring he would be awarded the Player of the Final award at full time.
Daf Williams’ side had the final say with a great strike from a Trialist in injury time, but Paul Collicutt’s men were deserved winners on the day.
Bishops Cleeve will now go into the 2026 Severn Sport Shield as both hosts and holders!
Earlier in the day, Fairford Town came from behind to beat Longlevens 3-1, to secure their second 3rd place finish in their two Shield outings.
Former Fairford man, Ben Lodge, put Levens ahead on 19 minutes – however Fairford levelled within four minutes through Dan Grieve’s driven effort.
As the heat began to increase and fatigue set in, the game looked destined to be going to penalties, but with just under 10 minutes to go, a mistake on the edge of the Longlevens box saw Ollie Bradbury nip in and fire past Billy Thomas to give his side a crucial lead.
Fairford would go onto add a very neat third with just five minutes remaining, as Riegan Cook turned smartly in the box and slid his effort beyond Thomas’ reach to seal the deal.
Following the tournament, our man Ryan Butler would like to say a few words of appreciation:
“Wow, what a tournament!
Once again we have seen four matches that were competitive throughout, unpredictable and even in tough weather conditions, played with a decent level of quality.
I would like to thank everyone associated with all four sides who helped make it a successful Severn Sport Shield, especially on a very hot finals day.
A massive thank you to the photographers who attended all week, we will be sharing a post with a number of photos from all of Pete Kinsella, Jamie Brain and Henry Nunn, who were pitchside to help tell the story of the week. Once their albums are all up, the post will come out sharing where you can view them all.
I would also like to thank Gloucester City for hosting the tournament, with special thanks to Jenny, David Miller, Graham and all volunteers who helped run the competition, from running the gate to tidying up the ground and ensuring match days ran smoothly.
Also a massive thanks to Dave Herridge and Michael Hedley-Ward for ensuring the bar and food outlets were open during the week.
We have now run the tournament seven times and each time, their is something to learn and keep in mind for next year and this year it was the heat.
I am already in discussions with Bishops Cleeve about potential schedule changes for next year that could see the risk of playing in 32+ degree heat reduced to support player and supporter welfare.
So watch this space, we will start confirming details about the 2026 Shield in the New Year, but I already have a few ideas for who to invite and potential dates etc.
Lastly, thank you to everyone who attended the games and continue to support not just Severn Sport, but all of the clubs involved.
There was representation from all four clubs throughout the week and that support is greatly appreciated by everyone.
See you all in Cleeve in 2026!”
