GLOUCESTERSHIRE FA Ladies can approach the next South & West Counties Championship competition flying thanks to their latest exploits, writes Simon Parkinson.

The ambitious representative side, coached and managed by Steve Lilley and Calum Wands, were undefeated in winning last year’s league title with maximum points.

That came at the expense of runners-up Devon, Wiltshire, Somerset and Dorset, the same four teams the talented Glos girls saw off to clinch the recent annual Inter-County Women’s Representative Team Tournament on familiar home ‘soil’ at the Gloucestershire FA’s 3G facility in Almondsbury.

The success made it back-to-back tournament victories for the team and once more they achieved it in unbeaten fashion.

In an exciting 11-a-side, 25 minute-per-game event all unfolding on the one day, Gloucestershire’s opening tie, with a Wiltshire side they were later to narrowly overcome in the final, ended up goalless.

Three more points were quickly pegged to the board as Laura Curnock’s goal proved sufficient in brushing aside Somerset by a single goal. And it was a similar outcome against Dorset in Gloucestershire’s third outing as Abi Todd netted in a slender 1-0 victory.

Following another goalless stalemate, this time with Devon, Todd was on target again with the crucial strike in a 1-0 defeat of group winners Wiltshire for a top-two final showdown to ensure the host side that second successive tournament title.

The jubilant matchwinner, who notched 18 times to help propel Frampton Rangers Ladies to a Gloucestershire County Women’s League Division One championship triumph in the latest 2017-18 campaign, fastened on to a searching through pass by centre-back Chloe Morris and dribbled past three opposition defenders before neatly slotting the ball away from inside the six-yard box for a fine and fitting finish.

A happy coach Wands acknowledged: “It really came down to just that bit of quality to separate the sides.

“It was a very close and competitive game as you might have expected between the two top teams in the group stage.

“It was also a very hot day and that made for some tired legs, which was maybe why goals throughout the tournament were in quite short supply.

“But the competition we came up against was strong as it had been in previous seasons, so it’s testament to the ability and determination of our players that while they have performed better on past occasions, they came through to win it as they did.

“I didn’t need to give them any motivation from the sidelines. I just put a lot of onus on the girls leading themselves and we certainly had 14 leaders both on and off the pitch.”