With Christmas just around the corner, which teams in Division Three of the Stroud Football League are likely to be on or near the top of the tree on the big day? The Local Answer’s ‘Man in the Know’ gives his verdict.

The picture in Division Three is a little less clear than in other divisions. Having lost Arlingham on the eve of the season, only 12 teams contest it now.

The top three in last season’s Division Four currently sit at the top the table, but there are several other strong teams that could make up the gap.

At the top sit Upton St Leonards Reserves following an impressive 4-1 win at Chalford Reserves and an 11-1 thumping of mid-table Quedgeley 3rds.

Upton have added several quality players in the off-season, while retaining a number of promising youngsters.

Leigh Skipp has come in following nearly two years off with a serious injury and has added to Upton’s goal threat. Their only loss in the league came in a midweek derby with Tuffley Rovers 3rds.

Taverners Reserves sit second, a point behind Upton, and are surprising a lot of people with their continuing strong form over the past 18 months.

Despite scratching around for a regular keeper for most of this season, they have been impressive in the league and in both cups.

Having squeezed out Upton over two legs in the Charity Cup, they have also impressively beaten this season’s Division Four big boys Kingsway Rovers and Tredworth Reserves.

A tough upcoming three weeks could define their season, with a County Cup game against Chalford 3rds and a league and then Charity Cup games against title favourites Ramblers.

Ramblers sit a further point behind in third but have a game in hand and remain unbeaten this season.

Also still in both cups, having won one and been a finalist last season, they won’t get many Saturdays off until the end of the season, but their busy schedule doesn’t seem to be a worry to them.

A league and a cup game against Taverners in mid-December should reveal whether they can continue to dominate.

Gareth Davies is leading the way for them and is the clear top scorer in the division. Added to that, they currently have the meanest defence, so it’s all looking pretty good.

Chalford’s slip-up to Upton will likely be a temporary blip as they too have designs on the top spot come the end of April.

With their first team doing so well in the league above, the Reserves are benefitting and have made a strong start this season.

A 4-1 win at Taverners in August put down a marker and although they have not blown any teams away yet, they are going along very nicely. A big local derby with Taverners Reserves in the County Cup this coming weekend will focus the minds with plenty at stake for both teams.

McCadam are next, but have only completed six games. Indeed, they recently had a very unfortunate couple of weeks when both of their games were abandoned for serious injuries to two of their players.

The second one actually happened in the warm-up before the kick-off. They had won three and drawn one before they got their pockets picked in a 3-2 loss to Upton in late October, and they played out a fierce 3-3 draw with Whitminster on Saturday.

Whitminster, Quedgeley 3rds and Thornbury Reserves sit in mid-table on 10 points each.

Whitminster were the early season pace-setters, but have dropped off the pace following a draw and two defeats in their past three games.

Two weeks ago they lost their keeper to a serious injury in their Charity Cup quarter-final tie at Tibberton, which had to be abandoned.

With no home game now until mid-January they need to get a couple of their big players back if they’re going to start picking up wins again and effect a push up the table. Brandon Mead has been their regular scorer for the past couple of seasons but has been missed in the past month.

Quedgeley also came up from Division Four last season and have done well to hit the ground running, with their highlight coming a few weeks ago with a 5-1 demolition of Thornbury.

But last weekend’s hammering at the hands of Upton shows the inconsistency that many a 3rds team suffer during the season. A home County Cup tie this coming Saturday, and two local derbies against Tuffley 3rds in December will at least mean that they won’t have too much travelling over the festive period.

Thornbury have had a strange start to the season. Short of a regular squad in late July, a bunch of the under-18 lads were signed without too much idea about how they would do.

In fact, the team started with four successive league draws, including with Ramblers and Upton, followed by a 1-0 win over Taverners.

Since then, the waters seem to have muddied as they have twice had to pull out of cup competitons due to a lack of players.

Thornbury 1sts currently sit proudly at the top of the Gloucestershire County League, so it is strange that unlike the four other clubs in that league with reserve teams in the Stroud League, their Reserves have not progressed up to Divisions One or Two.

Indeed, their Reserves should really be performing better than mid-table in Division Three, but it looks like they will miss out on promotion again come the end of season.

Tuffley Rovers 3rds started the campaign well but have stuttered in recent weeks. With a new management set-up in place at the start of the season, they have obviously had a steadying effect and, despite recent results, they will likely be a thorn to most of the top half of the table teams, so don’t be surprised to see them rise back into the top half themselves soon.

With a tough-looking County Cup tie this Saturday against Fintan from the Cheltenham League, Tuffley will be looking to kick-start their season. And following that game, it’s five local derby games in a row to get their teeth into.

Uley lie in 10th but are another team who can provide a good test for most of the teams in the division. Having lost all four games at home to date, but having picked up two away wins, they would appear to travel better than play on the famous Uley sloped pitch.

But three of those home losses have come against the top three teams so the picture may be a little different in a few weeks.

With their next two games at home, they will be hoping for maximum points to drag them away from the drop zone, otherwise, they may find it a bit of a slog to the end of the season.

Tetbury Town Reserves have punched above their weight for the past five seasons, remaining in this division.

But with their first team not firing on all cylinders for the same period, another relegation-free season will be a minor success.

But Tetbury do have eyes on pinching points off teams near the top and have earned points off mid-table teams thus far, and therefore remain a dangerous opponent. Getting some results in the next four games against lower half teams are a must to keep in touch with those teams above the relegation zone.

Cotswold Rangers struggled for large parts of last season and they have shown little improvement having lost all eight of their games, scoring only nine goals and conceding 43.

Spirited efforts in recent defeats by Ramblers, Taverners and Whitminster will hopefully see them build on this and enable them to attract a few new players to play for what are one of the most welcoming clubs in the county.

With two weeks off, they will look to pick up their first points of the season in mid-December.

Tomorrow, spotlight on Division Four of the Stroud League