Painswick can climb back to the top of Division One of the Stroud Football League if they win at leaders Tetbury Town on Saturday.

Tetbury hold a one point advantage – they have also played one game more – so there is certainly all to play for when the two sides go toe-to-toe at Preston Park in Cirencester Road.

Painswick have won eight and drawn two of their 10 Division One games this season, which has stretched their unbeaten league run to a remarkable 58 games.

They’ve won promotion in each of the last four seasons and are striving for a place in the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League for the first time in their history.

“We’ve had a very successful season so far,” said club treasurer Jim Evans with some understatement.

“We’re looking to build on the success of previous seasons.

“Our manager Carl Williams deserves a lot of the credit for our success, he’s the driving force along with our chairman Jordan Hutchinson.”

Tetbury have lost two of their opening 11 league games – 4-2 at home to Chalford Reserves at the start of last month and 5-0 at home to Taverners back in August – but they are, nevertheless, clearly a force to be reckoned with.

They’ve scored 29 goals in their 11 league games – Painswick have scored 34 – so there should be plenty of entertainment for supporters of both sides on Saturday.

Painswick actually came close to losing their unbeaten league record at the start of the month, when they trailed visitors Tuffley Rovers 3rds 4-0 at half-time.

But four second-half goals by man-of-the-match Dave Creed and one by Benji Cronin earned them a fabulous 5-4 win.

That was their most recent outing and Evans said: “It would be nice to be top at Christmas, every team wants to be top at Christmas.”

But even victory on Saturday won’t guarantee Painswick top spot on 25^th December because they have another game a week tomorrow at home to Old Richians while Tetbury must travel to Chalford Reserves.

And while Painswick’s flagship team have been hitting the goal trail, so have the club’s reserves who play in Division 5 North of the Stroud League. They’ve scored 60 in their 12 games and are top of the table after winning nine and drawing one.

The club’s 3rds are also unbeaten in Division Six and Evans added: “We’ve got about 80 players signed on this season, most of them are 25 or under.

“The reserves have struggled in past years, but we’ve got some good players coming through.”