In cricketing terms Horsley United Football Club have reached their century and have power to add.

The club were formed a year before the outbreak of World War One and these days boast two teams in the Stroud League.

Club secretary Tom Mcloughlin, who plays for the first team in Division Two – he also plays a bit of cricket – believes the future is bright for a club that are in the process of rebuilding under new manager James Clarke.

“We just missed out on promotion last season,” said Mcloughlin. “We finished third and our division was the only one in the Stroud League where that wasn’t good enough to get promoted.

“We also came close to going up the previous year and we’ve lost a few players this season because they wanted to play in the Northern Senior League.”

Horsley themselves were playing in the Northern Senior League 10 years ago and Mcloughlin, a centre-back and now 29, was in that team.

And while the players were clocking up the miles on the pitch in the mid-noughties as they tried to establish themselves at the higher level, they were also clocking up the miles in their cars as well because they were playing their home matches at Hawkesbury Upton, which is some 15 miles from Horsley.

Priory Field in Horsley, which is conveniently located behind The Hog pub and is Horsley’s current home ground, is not deemed up to standard by the Northern Senior League and Mcloughlin is inclined to agree.

“We need to flatten the pitch,” he admitted. “It’s very bumpy and it’s on a slight slope. The pitch isn’t quite big enough for the Northern Senior League although the changing rooms are brand new.”

Getting out of the Stroud League is more of a medium-term project for the club with Mcloughlin admitting that preserving their place in Division Two this season is their priority after losing a number of players over the summer.

“We’ve got a few young lads coming through – Jack Constable, Marshall Stokes, Charlie Leach, Alex Howley and Tom Stubbs,” said Mcloughlin. “They’re all 16 or 17 and they’ve all come into the side. They need to bulk up a bit but they’ve all got plenty of promise.”

Mcloughlin broke into the first team in his teenage years and is in his second spell with the club after playing for Stonehouse Town for three years.

“I joined Horsley when I was 15,” said Mcloughlin, who is also doing his second stint as secretary at the club, having taken over from his pal Clarke.

“I broke my ankle playing for Stonehouse and after that I came back to Horsley.”

And he wants to keep playing for as long as he can, something that may be easier to achieve following the formation of a Horsley veterans’ team this season.

It’s run by Kev Drew, who is a former first-team manager at the club.

The Drew family name is a big part of Horsley United Football Club, with Kev and his dad Trev organising fun days in memory of Trev’s son Mark who died in his late 20s.

“We played a charity game against The Comrades pub in Nailsworth,” said Mcloughlin, “and raised over £1,000 for a cancer ward at Cheltenham Hospital.”