ROSS JUNIORS men finished their season with a 5-1 win and promotion when they travelled to Mushet & Coalway last week.

Local rivals Lydbrook 2nds had effectively secured the North Gloucestershire Two title with a 3-1 win over Juniors the previous week, but Ross wanted to end the season in style and did so with a commanding victory.

The midweek game started at a frantic pace with both teams looking to gain the early advantage.

And just before half-time Sam Thorne headed a Callum Trotman free-kick across goal to find Jay Richmond for a tap in at the back post.

It stayed 1-0 to the break, and after the restart, Mushet came out and tried to put Ross on the back foot with lots of long balls.

But with the midfield and defenders winning their duels, Mattie Darwin and Richmond continually got Ross on to the front foot. And good passing and movement put Thorne through to make it 2-0 with a low finish.

Florin Crainic then quickly won a penalty and Trotman made it 3-0.

A few minutes later Ross switched off at a corner though, and the second ball was smashed home from close range to make it 3-1.

Ross then brought Tom Thorne on who made an instant impact when his run and pass found Ben Scotford who played In Richmond for his second with a fine finish from the edge of the box.

The opposition had a player sent off for an awful tackle from behind.

Ross then made a counter attack which saw another Mushet player sent off for a last man tackle.

The resulting free-kick saw Brad Preece knock the ball back across for Richmond to complete his hat-trick.

Mitchell Thomas then made a great save towards the end of the game to keep it at 5-1.

The result saw Juniors promoted with 45 points along with champions Lydbrook on 46 points.

Longhope, who didn’t win a game last season in NG One, were third with 37 points.

A Juniors spokesperson said: “This has been a fantastic season for Ross finishing runners up with a record of 14 wins, three draws and just one loss.

“It’s been a great effort which will see them promoted and only using 20 players all season is testament to the commitment of a very strong squad of players who have turned up week in, week out.

“Thank you to Tim Yates for his generous sponsorship this season, it’s much appreciated.

“The team now look forward to getting pre-season going and will soon post a date and time so any players looking to join are more than welcome.”