High-flying Sharpness are hoping to continue where they left off at the end of last year when they play their first game of 2026.

The unbeaten County League leaders host mid-table Stoke Gifford SGS United tomorrow looking to make it 12 wins in 14 games.

“We’re doing really well, the aim is to get promotion,” said joint-manager Ben Gibbs. “There’s still a long way to go, we’ve still got 19 games to play so we’ll have a much better idea of our chances at the end of February.”

Sharpness hold a four-point advantage over second-placed Tewkesbury Town, who have just been deducted three points for fielding an ineligible player.

They have won 11 games in a row after winning promotion last season, but have played a couple of games more than the leaders.

Sharpness finished fifth last season, five points behind champions Almondsbury, and Gibbs said: “We could have won the league. We beat Almondsbury twice and were top for quite a long time but we drew too many games in March and April.”

Gibbs was joint-manager alongside defender James Priday last season.

This season he is joint manager with Brad Thomas and Gibbs, who is 30, said: “James decided he wanted to concentrate on just playing.

“Brad is a former player at the club and he’s very experienced, we’re a good mix.”

Gibbs also played for the club but was forced to retire because of injury and Sharpness means a lot to him.

“My brother Brad played for the club and my dad Terry is a former manager,” he said.

This is the third season that Gibbs has been part of the management team. He assisted Priday when he took on the role of player/boss midway through the 2023/24 campaign following the departure of previous manager Josh Loveridge.

“We had a good end to the season and last season was really good too,” continued Gibbs. “We said if we could keep all our players we'd do really well this season.”

Happily for the club, that has proved to be very much the case.

“We’ve brought in a few players as well,” said Gibbs. “Marley Thomas and Michael Bryant have both come in and scored a few goals although the good thing is that everyone seems to be chipping in with goals.

“We don’t have a set formation, we play 4-3-3 or 3-5-2.

“Our goalkeeper Peter Dykes has been a good addition too, if we can keep everyone fit we’ve got a chance.”

Not that Gibbs is getting carried away.

“Tewkesbury are good, Filton are title contenders and Frampton are always up there,” he added.

“It’s a really strong league and we’ve still got to play everyone. Wick are dangerous and Bromley Heath are on a great run, we’ve got a tough January.”

Sharpness, who are confident they will be accepted into the Hellenic League if they win the County League, travel to Tewkesbury Town a week tomorrow.