Gloucestershire County League
Saturday 27th December 2025
Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.02
Totterdown United 1 Sharpness 2, attendance 44
47’ 1-0
75’ 1-1
90’ + 6, 1-2
@ Bristol Barbarians R.U.F.C.
Norton Lane
Whitchurch
BS14 0BT
No Admission or Programme.
I first saw Totterdown United play a game here at Bristol Barbarians R.U.F.C. in September 2019, when they beat Pucklechurch Sports 2-1 in a Bristol Premier Combination League match. Back then, they played on the pitch that runs parallel with the track leading into the complex, to the left and having no more than a pair of dugouts on the far side. They’ve since developed a new pitch beyond the brick built changing rooms, which has enabled them to make the step up into the Gloucestershire County League and today’s visit would once again complete the league. It runs lengthways away from the building and is fully railed off and has a pair of dugouts on the left hand side.
The match saw 15th (out of 17) host 2nd in the league table, with the visitors trailing league leaders Tewkesbury Town by two points, having played three games fewer and the only team yet to lose a game this season, having won 10 and drawn 2 of their twelve played. The first half was very poor. Neither team managed a shot on goal. The second half was much better, helped considerably by Totterdown making the breakthrough just two minutes after the break, when a cross from the right was deflected high into the air, looping over the backpedaling keeper and dropping into the far corner. Sharpness piled on the pressure and deservedly drew level with fifteen minutes left, when a diagonal ball in from the right saw a striker just beat the ‘keeper to the ball and poke it past him into the bottom corner. Having rescued their unbeaten record, they now set about grabbing all three points, rather than settle for the draw. They almost lost it three minutes into stoppage time, when a Totterdown one on one against the ‘keeper resulted in a good save, before stopping the follow up too, but three minutes later the visitors grabbed the winner, when a corner on the right was met with a glancing header that was swept in at the far post. The win sees Sharpness leapfrog Tewkesbury at the top, whilst Totterdown remain third from bottom.
What should have been a two and a quarter hour drive down to the south east of Bristol took almost four hours, arriving just nine minutes before the scheduled kick off, due to horrendous traffic on the M25 from J9-J12 as well as coming off the M4 at J17 and going cross country from there. The return took just three hours, including diverting off the M4 from J17-J16 and the usual queue at the M3/M25 interchange.
As far as ‘new’ ground visits go, that rounds off 2025 for me, ending the year with 153 (91 England, 30 Wales, 20 Scotland, 5 Belgium, 5 Spain and 2 France) and an overall tally of 6,254.
Above photo : 1. First visit and 2. The new pitch.