Improving Shortwood United head to Downton for an FA Vase second-round tie on Saturday looking to make it three wins on the bounce.

Their 7-1 thumping of Ludlow Town in Division One of the Hellenic League five days ago was followed by a midweek 3-0 win over Brimscombe & Thrupp, also at home, in the GFA Challenge Cup first round.

New Shortwood boss Peter Beadle knows it won’t be easy in Wiltshire, however. Downton play in the Premier Division of the Wessex League and also go into the game on the back of two successive wins.

“They play a level above us, but we are starting to turn things around,” said Shortwood match-day secretary Andrew Collier.

They certainly are, with the improvement coinciding with the appointment of the experienced Beadle as manager at the start of last month.

The 53-year-old played around 350 Football League games – nearly 200 of them for Bristol City and Bristol Rovers – and has since managed  Newport, Hereford, Barnet and Yate Town.

Shortwood have won three and drawn two of their six games in all competitions since the start of last month.

One of the draws was at Street in the previous round of the FA Vase, with Shortwood winning 5-3 on penalties after the game ended 1-1.

“We struggled a bit at the start of the season but the new manager has come in and galvanised everybody,” said Collier.

“That win against Ludlow had been a long time coming.”

It was only their second win in the league this season – it was their 12^th game – but it lifted them out of the bottom three and they are now 15^th in the 18-strong division with games in hand on most of the teams around them.

Climbing the division is a definite target for the club going forward, but for now all eyes are on the FA Vase.

Apart from Street, they also needed penalty shootouts to overcome Longwell Green Sports and Chipping Sodbury Town in the competition before Beadle took charge.

Both those away games finished 1-1 as well and Collier said: “It’s the first time we’ve been in the second round of the FA Vase for 14 years.”