Minchinhampton Football Club want to get back into the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League.

That’s the aim of chairman Mark Cox, who is enjoying his second spell in the role.

The 56-year-old has been in charge for the past three or four years and he told The Local Answer: “The aspiration is to get out of the Stroud League.”

They nearly succeeded last season, losing out by one point to Gala-Wilton Reserves, who finished fourth.

So it’s certainly a realistic target for a club who have been going since 1902 although they will need to start putting a run of form  together in the next few weeks.

They host Division One pacesetters Painswick on Saturday having won three and drawn one of their opening seven games, a run that has left them in eighth place in the 13-strong division, albeit only one point off fifth.

“We feel we’ve got quite a lot of quality at the club,” said Cox, who played for Minchinhampton in the Northern Senior League and who first turned out for the club way back in 1986.

“We’ve got some good players and the expectation levels are quite high but we started the season really slowly.”

Their results have started to pick up in recent weeks – they won 6-3 at home to Tuffley Rovers 3rds on Saturday – but Cox admitted: “We’ve let Painswick, Tetbury Town and Wotton Rovers get away from us a bit.

“Tetbury are a good team and Wotton were fantastic when they played us.”

Wotton won 5-1 at Minchinhampton a month ago and Cox has also got plenty of respect for Painswick who have enjoyed multiple promotions in recent times.

“They’re putting out three sides so they are doing exceptionally well,” Cox continued. “Their first team are a very good side. They’re very well drilled but we beat them in the County Cup last season.”

That victory will give manager Jason King confidence going into Saturday’s game.

King took over as the main man from Andy Bunn midway through last season after previously operating as his assistant. He was helped on the coaching side by goalkeeper James Crowest and Cox during the closing stages of the campaign with the club enjoying a fine end-of-season run.

Cox is still helping King this time around and it’s clear that the club mean an awful lot to him.

“I’ve been a player, manager, treasurer, secretary; I’ve done all the committee roles,” he said.

“The thing about Division One of the Stroud League is there are no poor teams.  There are no teams where you can just rock up and pick up the points.

“Every game is competitive, there are no whipping boys.”

And much the same applies throughout the Stroud League with Minchinhampton’s Reserves currently playing in Division Four.

They’ve made a strong start to the campaign under manager Dan Matthews – they are third after four wins and one draw from their opening six games – and have been boosted by an influx of younger players.

Matthews is a long-serving stalwart of the club who combines player/managing the reserves with the secretary and treasurer roles and Cox said the club are very lucky to have him.

“We’ve set up a loose affiliation with Minchinhampton Rangers,” explained Cox. “They are very successful. It’s not a formal affiliation but the aim is to provide a pathway for their players into adult football.”

Minchinhampton Rangers, who do not run any senior sides, have teams from under-6 through to under-17 and this year a Minchinhampton Rangers under-18 team, who are playing in the Cheltenham Youth League, have been set up.

“Six or seven of those players have already played for our adult teams this season,” said Cox.

“They have helped the reserves enormously; they are really starting to find their feet in adult football.

 “One of the things we wanted to do this season was try to reduce the average age of the players at Minchinhampton.

“We’ve got excellent facilities which meet Gloucestershire Northern Senior League requirements and we want players from the youth set-up continuing on and playing for Minchinhampton.”

And those players who do graduate from youth football should enjoy stepping up to the next level at Minchinhampton.

“We’ve got an excellent pitch and facilities and are striving to continually improve,” said Cox. “We have an excellent committee group who pitch in and around the club and we also have some very good loyal sponsors who help the club tremendously.”