Hot-shot striker Jack Watts will be back on the goal trail tomorrow even though it is only a matter of days since Bishop’s Cleeve clinched the Hellenic League Premier Division title.

This time it will be in the Hellenic League Cup with 27-year-old Watts desperate to win more silverware in what has been a remarkable season for the club.

“Definitely, we want to do the league and cup double,” said Watts, who has scored 35 goals this season.

He was on target in the 11-2 demolition of Shrivenham on Tuesday, a mauling that finally put paid to any lingering hopes that Westbury United had of catching the long-time leaders, and he’ll be confident of adding to his tally when Worcester Raiders are the visitors to Kayte Lane tomorrow (3pm).

Scoring goals has been Watts’ trademark for a long time now – he’s scored more than a hundred in the last three seasons – and he said: “At the start of the season the manager Paul Collicutt sat me down and set me a target of 30 goals.

“Now I think the target has got to be 40, we’ve still got one league game to play and obviously we’ve got at least one cup game.”

Bishop’s Cleeve’s supporters will be hoping that there will be a lot more than just the one cup game, of course, and certainly Cleeve will start as strong favourites tomorrow against a team who play a division below them.

Throw in the fact that Cleeve have scored 18 goals in their two games on their new 3G artificial pitch and it’s easy to see why everyone is buzzing around the club.

So what sort of striker is Watts?

“I’m quite quick,” he said. “I’m 6ft 2in so I’m quite tall as well but for me it’s not about my height.

“The lad who I play up front with at Cleeve, Jordan Annear, is taller than me so I play off him, I use my pace more than my head.

“I’m good at being in the right place at the right time but I do like to come from deep and run at players so I like to think there is some variety to my game.”

Watts, who lives in Prestbury, is in his third spell at the club and it’s fair to say his decision to return ‘home’ at the start of this season from Stourport Swifts was one of the best he has ever made.

“The main treason I came back to Cleeve was because of Paul Collicutt,” Watts said. “Once he took over as manager it was a no-brainer.

“The club feel like a real family club, it’s not just about the 1^st team, it’s the whole club. A player from Cleeve Colts has been a mascot at nearly all our home games, we’ve had the Cleeve Colts kids and their parents come and watch us, it’s been great.”

And the new artificial pitch will certainly help to bring even more people into the club.

“It’s not just for the 1^st team,” said Watts, “it’s for the reserves, the women’s team, Cleeve Colts.

“They’re going to have walking football and disability football on the pitch as well,  it’s absolutely brilliant.”

Watts may have had two spells away from the club – he’s also played for Evesham United – but it’s clear that Bishop’s Cleeve mean an awful lot to him.

“Yes, they do,” he said. “Winning the Hellenic League title was everything. The last time we got promoted to the Southern League we finished second so this is really special.

“It’s what we train for on a Tuesday and why we play on a Saturday. We’ve only lost two games all season and to win it with a game to spare is unbelievable.

“Fair play to Westbury, they pushed us all the way but we’ve got 89 points, you don’t see too many teams over the years getting that number of points.”

Watts has been a major player, of course, as he has been at the club for many years.

“I started off with Cleeve Colts,” he said. “All my family are from Bishop’s Cleeve but in my teens I joined Cheltenham Town’s academy.”

That was a great opportunity but sadly it didn’t quite work out for Watts who was released at the age of 16.

“We all kind of knew it was very, very hard to get a contract,” Watts said. “I think only one player from our group got offered a contract so getting released was kind of expected but you don’t believe it until you are actually told ‘no’.

“It was hard at first but at least it gave me the opportunity to go back and play with my mates at Cleeve, that was how I dealt with it.”

He only left Cleeve because of a desire to test himself at a higher level, although he admits his move to Evesham didn’t work out.

“Because of my pace they saw me as a winger,” said Watts, “but I’m a striker.”

His time last season at Stourport Swifts, who play in the Premier Division of the Midland League, was more successful – he scored 18 goals in 18 games before the season was ended early because of Covid.

That was a very decent return and Watts is certainly looking forward to playing in Division One South of the Southern League next season, a level he’s played at with Cleeve before.

“We were there for three seasons before we were relegated,” said Watts. “I think only myself and our assistant manager Matt Jeynes are still at the club, that’s why winning the title meant so much to us, it’s taken the club three seasons to get back up.”

Watts is under no illusions about the size of the task facing Cleeve next season.

“It is a big jump between the Hellenic League and the Southern League,” he said. “In the Hellenic League six or seven clubs pay their players but in the Southern League every team pays.

“You are playing against teams from big cities who can attract players who have been released from clubs in Bristol and Birmingham.

“Everything is bigger – the clubs, the grounds, the attendances.”

But despite the step up in quality Watts is certainly not daunted by the challenge.

“I’ve always felt fine at the level,” he said. “I felt comfortable before and I always wanted to get back there with Cleeve, I don’t see myself playing for anyone else.”