Wednesday 27th April 2016 ko 18.30

Gloucestershire Northern Senior League Division 2

BIBURY AFC 7 (Rockley 6 Reynolds 21 68 McSherry 30 Deacon 76 O’Neill 80 Montgomery 90)

LONGFORD 0

Att 31

If you want a pretty English village to visit just head just over the border from Oxfordshire into Gloucestershire and pay Bibury a visit. It sits on the burbling River Coln, with the Arlington Mill at its centre. Don’t take my word though, William Morris described Bibury as “The most beautiful village in England”

Sadly the football club play on the outskirts of the village although Aldsworth Road is pretty enough, and they’re enjoying something of a renaissance. They won 4 promotions in a row to escape the Cirencester League, then the Cheltenham League. Now they’ve won the lower division of the GNSL and were presented with the trophy before the game.

That was in contrast with poor Longford, who this game was to be their 30th defeat from 30 games and their goal difference ended up at a mind-boggling -216. They were dubbed “Britain’s worst team,” and a sponsor drafted in former England international Stuart Pearce for a game to help them. They’ll ply their trade in the Stroud League, but as the trophy was presented as a league official wished Bibury good luck in their new league, a Longford player commented,

“We’ll be playing in a new league next season, do we get a trophy too?”

It set the tone for the evening, and no Longford are far from being the worst team in Britain, but Bibury are good, very good in fact and passed and moved beautifully. The temperature dropped, people moved closer to the barbecue to keep warm as the sun set on an exceptional season for the pretty village in the Cotswolds.