Celebrations go on into the night as Rovers secure the championship (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Celebrations go on into the night as Rovers secure the championship

THE celebrations went on long into the night for a Bourton Rovers' first team that rounded off a fine 2003/4 campaign by securing the Northern Senior League second division title at Smith's Athletics' Newlands ground on Friday evening.

Anything other than a victory would not have been enough for Tony Spedding's side.

However, goals by full-back Tim Hudson and substitute Mark Larner proved decisive, making the challenge of second- placed Cam Bulldogs' win at Newent Town all but academic.

It has been a tremendous season for the North Cotswolds club as a whole.

For Spedding's achievements in taking his charges to the title matched those of Neil Teague four years earlier.

More good news was that Paul Heming's Cheltenham League second string claimed runners-up spot in the third division after improving all season.

Add to that the success and growth of the youth sides, particularly at U10s and U12s levels, and the ambition for the Rissington Road club to be one of the strongest in the North Cotswolds is beginning to become a reality.

Friday's 2-1 victory over Cleeve was a closely matched affair with chances at a premium.

The grass was so long as to make the game almost unplayable, and the first period saw the sides cancelling each other out without a serious threat being posed at either end.

Cleeve, making a late run for third and possible promotion themselves, were often quicker to the ball. But Bourton, who came out fired up after the interval, began to take a grip with some of their best football.

But their first goal, when it came, was something of a fluke. Even so, Hudson, the scorer who doubled his tally for the season, cared not a jot.

Picking up possession on the right, his curled cross made the keeper scramble backwards and, under pressure from Matthew Winter, the ball dropped under the crossbar and into the far corner, leaving both Winter and Cleeve stopper laid prostrate in the goalmouth. Five minutes later and Larner had doubled the lead with a sweet, left-foot strike after being played in by fellow substitute Tom Arkell.

It was the 17-year-old's ninth of the season, several of which have been crucial ones after coming off the substitutes' bench.

At this point, Rovers looked comfortable and, with Michael Hughes outstanding at the heart of the defence and veteran 43-year-old Neil Teague playing his last-ever competitive game, they had not conceded a goal in eight hours of football.

Then, with triumph beckoning, Andrew Herbert was called on to get make a save low to his right before he was left helpless after a needless trip.

But Cleeve were awarded a penalty which was confidently dispatched. Their goal made for a nervy last 15 minutes with Bourton's outstanding band of faithful supporters surviving the jitters before the celebrations kicked in.

This victory, Rovers' fourth on the trot, left them two points clear of Cam as the eventual champions.

It also meant that they had gone undefeated in their last ten games in order for jubilant skipper Stuart Hughes to lift the title.