Bristol Manor Farm travel to Bishops Cleeve on Saturday afternoon as they look to build on two very impressive FA Cup victories so far, writes Jack Davies.
Despite searching for their first league victory, Lee Lashenko’s Farm have already defeated Thame United and Roman Glass St. George in this competition. Defensively, the Portwaymen are looking far more solid, and at the front, forward Evander Grubb opened his account with a well-taken finish to cap off his constant threats all match. His strike partner, Owen Brain, took home the match ball in the last round of this competition and will be looking to add to his six goals already for Farm. Last season’s 4-2 win over The Mitres seemed to kickstart the road to survival, and the Farm will be hoping for a similar turn of luck at Kayte Lane.
Cleeve have started their league campaign impressively, winning two of their four so far. They are coming fresh of a confident win against Evesham, even more impressive as it came just two days after a heavy defeat against Willand. In this competition, Cleeve survived an early exit by winning an away replay against Thornbury, before coming through to this round with a win against North Leigh. Their attack carries plenty of quality, not least Jay Malanskyj, who always seems to do well against Farm.
Fact file:
Nickname – The Mitres
Manager – Paul Collicutt
Stadium – Kayte Lane
Star man – Jay Malanskyj
Last game – 3-0 win over Evesham
Last season – 9th
Fun fact – Their record crowd is 1300!