Bishops Cleeve make history as they SMASH ladies attendance record in Super Sunday at Kayte Lane

Bishops Cleeve Ladies made club history on the 19th of January when they brought 214 through the gates at Kayte Lane to smash the previous women's record attendance of 49 as part of an incredibly successful day dedicated to women's football at Bishops Cleeve FC.

The first team, led by Paul Bignell and Rob Winter in manager Chris Gough's absence, fell to a 4-2 defeat to Longlevens AFC in their first game since the 15th of December, 2024. The lack of game time was somewhat evident among the Cleeve ranks as they took some time to regain their match sharpness and grow into the match, eventually hitting the net twice but falling to a 3-0 deficit before they could find their footing.

The best goal so far did go the way of the Miss Mitres, however, with Leonie Gough rocketing a lob over the Longlevens keeper to pull one back and send the two sides into the break with only the two-goal deficit. Levens would then add a fourth before Cora Bolton pulled another back, but it wasn't enough to spark a full comeback and the visitors took the first win of the day.

Things went slightly better for the Development side as they came out on top in a 12-goal thriller in the 16:30 kick-off. The win pushed them up to the top of the Gloucestershire County Women's Football League Division Three while the first team ended the day in seventh.

After just 15 minutes, it was 3-0 to Cleeve in front of a crowd that was staying strong at over 200 supporters. An immediate fourth and fifth came next with the visitors, Cinderford Town, then pulling one back before Cleeve added another ten minutes from halftime with a 6-1 scoreline at the break.

Nine minutes into the second half brought Cinderford's second and final goal with Cleeve continuing to run riot thanks to another four goals, the referee's final whistle sealing a 10-2 win and ascension to the top of the table. They received a very warm reception from the supporters as they made their way off the pitch with both sides doing the club proud in its very first ladies day.

The four-fold record attendance increase attracted attention within the local footballing world with the first team's visitors Longlevens praising the day as "another great step in the right direction" with the 214 through the turnstiles firm evidence of the already existing impact that the growth of the women's set up at Bishops Cleeve has had.

It has been a strong debut campaign for the Devs side as they battle towards the top of the table and fight for promotion with Sunday's event being the first Ladies Super Sunday of the season, and ever, with previous efforts falling victim to scheduling and occurrences beyond their control.

Special credit for the success of the day should go to Head of Media & Communications Dan Ford and Events' Molly Winter, plus the rest of the Winter family and the Media & Comms team and players, staff, and supporters of all sides. The matchday programme for the day is available to read for free online here.