Bank Holiday hopes after decade of despair

Tuffley Rovers will host near neighbours Longlevens in an August Bank Holiday Monday fixture, knowing that they can add defying history to the objectives, alongside securing El Glosico bragging rights until Boxing Day and three valuable Uhlsport Hellenic League Premier Division points.

Rovers’ record against the cross-city rivals is mixed, to say the least, but their record at The R B Walters Estate Agents Stadium or Glevum Park, is woeful to say the least, with Rovers without a point at home since a Warren Mann goal proved decisive at home on Boxing Day 2016. The sequence of league results at home since has been 0-1, 1-2, 0-1, 0-4, 0-2, 0-2 and then 1-2 when Longlevens visited on 27 December 2025.

Manager Neil Mustoe is well aware of that horrendous run of form at home but he has previously overseen two wins over Longlevens, albeit both at Sawmills, in 2023 and 2025.

“Historically this has not been a fixture where Tuffley Rovers has had much success and I was told over the weekend that the Boxing Day game here in 2016 was our last victory against Longlevens in a home fixture”, he explained. “The law of averages means this has to change at some point but we can’t rely on averages like that and have to do all the right things we have already been doing this season.”

If Mustoe’s side can turn their form against Longlevens around on Monday, they will potentially find themselves having accrued 25% of their points total from their most successful campaign in recent history (2025/26) after just 7 games of the season. Another defeat would mean they have taken 10 points from the opening month of the season, which would still be seen as a reasonable return, but Mustoe definitely wants more.

“What we have done so far this season is work hard and we have to replicate that, so that we earn anything we get from the game against Longlevens, rather than relying on chance or averages. If we can do that, I am confident that we can take something from the game.”

Monday afternoon’s game will kick-off at 3pm at The R B Walters Estate Agents Stadium (at Glevum Park). Admission is £8 standard admission, £5 for concessions and £1 for U16s.