“If we can win that game, we can win any game at this level.”

Those are the upbeat words of Fairford Cricket Club captain Jon Welch after his team pulled off a thrilling, and at times very unlikely, three-run win over Tewkesbury 2nds on Saturday.

The dramatic victory keeps them on top of Division Three of the Gloucestershire County League and with just four games to go they remain very much in the driving seat in the race for the title, with nearest rivals Hatherley and Reddings 2nds 15 points adrift and third-placed Frampton-on-Severn trailing by 24 points.

Fairford have won 10 of their 14 league games and lost only two, but for long periods on Saturday – both when they were batting and they were bowling – it looked as though win number 10 was going to elude them.

Fairford made 155 for nine from their 40 overs but that only tells a fraction of the story because at one stage they were 31 for six as Adam Brookes, who finished with figures of six wickets for seven runs from his eight overs, ripped through their top order.

“We won the toss but we didn’t bat well enough,” admitted Welch.

Fortunately, opening batsman Jay Goddard held firm and he eventually found a good ally in Harvey New, and together they put on 88 for the seventh wicket before New fell for 25.

Goddard was eventually dismissed for 67 and Welch said: “It was a match-winning innings, to get from 31 for six to more than 150 was a good effort. He’s come into some good form and hit a 100 a few weeks ago.”

It didn’t look as though it would be enough, though, as Brookes followed up his bowling heroics with an innings of 53 before being run out by William Bowers.

That left Tewkesbury 134 for five and still very much odds-on favourites to win but Welch, who bowls medium-paced seamers, and 13-year-old leg-spinner Matt Dyson turned the game on its head in the space of a few dramatic overs.

Welch is a big fan of Dyson and said: “He’s come into the side and bowled really well, he took a couple of four-fers in his first two games.”

And he was certainly up to the task on Saturday, even though he was smashed for six by Brandon Coates to leave Tewkesbury needing just eight to win with three wickets in hand.

“It was a half-tracker,” said Welch, “but he had the confidence to toss the next one up and the batsman hit it straight down deep midwicket’s throat. It was a very mature spell of bowling.”

Dyson finished with two for 35 and Welch three for 16 as Tewkesbury were dismissed with seven balls remaining.

“It was a pretty good effort in the field, it was a pretty good comeback,” said Welch with some understatement. “We were pretty emotional on the pitch, it was a big release. The way we turned it around, there was a lot of adrenaline, we have got a really good group of players.”

Fairford now travel to Woodpeckers on Saturday with confidence obviously high.

“We want to win the title,” said 31-year-old Welch, who is in his fourth season with the club and first as captain. “We’ve got a bit of a momentum now which is nice. We want our two senior teams to be playing at the highest level they can.”

The club’s 2^nd XI are second in Division Two of the Cotswold District Cricket Association League and clearly the club are on an upward trajectory.

“The wider aim is that we want to develop the clubhouse,” said Welch. “We’ve also got a really good junior section which we want to expand. We’ve got some good young players coming through, we want to grow the club.”