Bishop’s Cleeve are hoping to take another giant step forward when they go head-to-head with Malvern Town at Kayte Lane on Wednesday (7.45pm).

The two teams meet in a Southern League Division One South promotion play-off semi-final, a clash that will leave the winners just one game away from a place in next season’s Premier Division South.

It is the first time that Cleeve have reached the play-offs – their third-placed finish in the league campaign is also the best in their 120-year history – and manager Paul Collicutt said: “This is the biggest game in the club’s history.”

Readers of The Local Answer online will remember that the Cleeve boss said the same thing back in September ahead of the club’s FA Cup tie against Torquay United, a game which saw Cleeve produce a stunning performance to win 3-0 in front of more than 1,000 fans at Kayte Lane. 

“We enjoyed playing Torquay but this is an even bigger game,” Collicutt insisted. “We’re trying to do something that 20-25 years ago we could only have dreamed about.”

Indeed, they are although they face a tough test against opponents who have raced to a fourth-placed finish on the back of a remarkable run which has seen them win 14 and draw four of their last 18 league games.

“They are the form team in the division,” admitted Collicutt, even though they have failed to take a point from Cleeve this season.

They lost 3-0 back in August when Ross Langworthy got two of the goals - Jay Malshanskyj got the other - and they were walloped 4-1 at Kayte Lane on New Year’s Day when Langworthy got another brace with Matthew Bower and Ethan Dunbar getting one apiece.

That game was the start of Cleeve’s climb towards the upper reaches of the 22-strong division and since the turn of the year they have won 14 and drawn three of their 21 league games, so they are in good form too.

“To be where we are I think has surprised just about everybody,” admitted Collicutt, although the stats go a long way towards revealing the reasons for their success.

No team team in the division has conceded as few goals as their 34 and no team has a better goal difference than their 42.

“We have a very good defensive record,” Collicutt said. “We’ve conceded the fewest at home and away, we’ve had 24 or 25 clean sheets.

“We haven’t lost at home since before Christmas and we score a lot of goals as well, the league table makes happy reading.”

Malvern, meanwhile, conceded 62 league goals, which was more than half the teams in the division, but no other team went close to matching their 96 goals scored.

Former Cleeve striker Jack Watts has been banging in the goals for them this season and his double in the 4-1 win against Willand Rovers at the weekend took his tally for the season to 24.

The 30-year-old Watts isn’t the only one at Malvern with Cleeve connections because co-manager Steve Cleal is a former player and manager at the Gloucestershire club.

Cleal played under Collicutt during the latter’s first spell as manager while Cleal’s brother Pat is Cleeve’s kitman which adds another layer to what is an eagerly anticipated game.

“The place is hyper, we’re very, very busy,” said Collicutt. “Everybody in the club is talking about the game, we’re really looking forward to it.”

And Collicutt is hoping the village turns out in force to support his team.

Malvern are expected to bring around 350 supporters and Collicutt added: “There is genuinely a lot of interest in the game.

“Our supporters can play a big part. I asked the fans to turn up in their numbers for the Torquay game and with the weather like it is, this could be our biggest crowd of the season.

“It’s amazing, we had a crowd of 83 for our first game of the season, now we can get anything from 300 to 1,000.”

The other play-off semi-final sees second-placed Evesham United host fifth-placed Exmouth Town, also on Wednesday.

The play-off final will take place on Monday 5^th May (3pm) with home advantage going to whichever of the finalists finished highest in the league.