Cheltenham Civil Service Ladies win Severn Sport Trophy; Ciren Runners-up – City beat Longlevens to claim third

Cheltenham Civil Service Ladies held on against late Cirencester Town pressure to lift the first ever Severn Sport Trophy, winning 2-1 at the TigerTurf Stadium.

Mary-Ann Gittings’ second half strike added to Jas Hart’s first half breakthrough to give the GCWFL Division One side a 2-0 lead, before Skye Cooper curled home in injury time to threaten a Ciren comeback.

But Maxine and Simon Greenwood’s side were worthy winners, having romped home in their Semi Final on Wednesday night and putting in an efficient display to lift the trophy.

Ironically, it was Cirencester who started the better, with Cooper and Eden Marsh combining well in the early stages – but Sammy Gifford stood firm in the Civvy goal.

Katie Ashmead and Kaydee Wheeler had good chances for Civvy, before Jas Hart chased down a back pass and got her reward as her block fell into her path for an easy tap-in.

From there, Civvy took control of the contest and nearly doubled their lead before the break – but a ball into the box just evaded Ashmead, as she flew in from the back post.

The second half started very evenly – with Phoebe McGouran nearly setting up a leveller, but Gifford smothered her pullback.

And within seconds, Civvy struck the killer blow. Mary-Ann Gittings shrugged off her marker before curling into the top corner beautifully from the left corner of the box.

With half an hour to go, Ciren knew they had a mountain to climb, but kept to the task.

Niki Biskup, who impressed during Thursday’s second Semi Final, nearly played in Eden Marsh, but the pass was fractionally too heavy.

Libby Messenger teed up Star Allen, who ventured forward from left back, but her effort flew into the side netting.

And just as the game looked set to slip away from Ciren, Cooper curled home beautifully from 20 yards to set up a nervy final three minutes of additional time.

But Civvy held on to become part of Severn Sport history – being the first Women’s side to win our pre-season tournaments and the inaugural Severn Sport Trophy.

Following the game, Butler presented Jas Hart with the Severn Sparks Player of the Final for his display, before presenting Hart with the trophy for her side to keep.

Earlier in the day, Gloucester City Women dispatched a depleted Longlevens side, 3-0, to clinch Third Place.

After a goalless opening half an hour, Laina Warren curled home after cutting in from the left hand side.

Warren had been a threat in the opening stages of the contest, linking up well with Nicole Lewis, Kate Ambrey and Zoe Gabb – who were playing in the front three.

Longlevens went into the game with just on substitute and a number of players carrying injuries from the Semi Final vs Civil Service – including midfielder Chloe Davis as a makeshift goalkeeper.

Davis put in a Player of the Match performance to keep the scoreline down and to keep both Lewis and Alicia Kantorowicz out, before the latter forced home a rebound after yet another Davis save.

City added the third as Warren and Lewis linked up yet again, with Lewis continuing her form in front of goal from last season – firing in off the foot of the post.

Both sides plucked on in the intensifying heat and banked key minutes in a competitive contest.

With the conclusion of the Severn Sport Trophy – our second pre-season tournament of the season Butler has the following to say:

“A massive thank you to not only all four sides in the Trophy, but all of the sides who played in the Shield in July. It was new for us to be running two tournaments over the summer months and we have experienced everything!

From me picking up a sickness bug and missing the Shield Semi-Finals, to a last minute change of location for a Semi Final of the Trophy and side’s struggling with injuries and availability, we have managed to put on eight great matches to help showcase the talented players in and around Gloucestershire.

A huge thank you to all of Stonehouse Town, Gloucester City and Cirencester Town for hosting games – the support from those three and all participating clubs has meant a lot.

Once again a massive thank you to Garry Collier for helping to arrange match officials during tournament season and to all of the officials who were happy to add the Shield and Trophy to their schedules.

For the Trophy Finals day, thank you to Dave Herridge and Michael Hedley-Ward for opening the bar and grill – even though we weren’t sure on numbers due to it being the first time running a Women’s tournament.

And the biggest thank yous go to the players and management teams of the sides and anyone who attended the games to show their support for local football – once again Gloucestershire continues to boast a great grassroots football scene and it has been great so see so many turn up in the sun, the wind and the rain to show their support.

We go again in 2025!”