Bishop’s Cleeve Hockey Club go into tomorrow’s game against Stroud B at Stratford Park boasting an impressive 1-2-3.

That’s because, as well as being first in the Marches 2 Division of the West of England Men’s Hockey League, they can also lay claim to being second in another category and third in not one, but two others, as long-serving player Rob Link explains.

“There are 265 teams in the West of England League and in our first season as Bishop’s Cleeve Hockey Club, we have the second-best defensive record in the league and the third best goal difference and goals scored,” he said.

Bishop’s Cleeve are 10 points clear of second-placed Gloucester C in the 12-strong Marches 2, having won all 14 games so far during which time they have scored 83 goals and conceded just nine.

And they will be strong favorites to extend that winning run tomorrow even though Stroud B are fifth in the table, having won eight and drawn one of their 13 games.

Bishop’s Cleeve, who play their home games on the artificial pitch at Plock Court in Gloucester, were known as ‘Cleevillians’ before changing their name to Bishop’s Cleeve at the start of the campaign having originally been known as Smiths Industries.

The club were formed out of the Old Smiths Industries factory in Bishop’s Cleeve – the company is now known as GE Aviation – and used to play their home games on the grass pitches at Newlands, Bishop’s Cleeve back in the day. Now they are working very hard to return to the village from where they originated way back in 1942.

“We have just entered a stall to promote our club at the Bishop’s Cleeve Village Open Day on Saturday 29th February,” added Link.

Link told The Local Answer before Christmas that the club were “working with Cleeve School and Tewkesbury Borough Council to try to get funding for an artificial pitch at the school, and if not there, somewhere else in the village.”