“It won’t be a draw.”

That’s the confident prediction of Tredworth Tigers joint-manager Lee Smith as he looks ahead to their Northern Senior League Division One title showdown at Chalford on Monday (6.45pm).

It is the last league game of the season for both clubs and Chalford, the current leaders, have a one-point advantage over second-placed Tredworth.

It’s all set up perfectly for a final shootout but what makes this season’s title race even more exciting is that the league could yet be won by someone other than Chalford and Tredworth.

That’s because third-placed Longlevens Reserves are at second-from-bottom Woolaston tomorrow, a game they go into trailing Chalford by two points but with a better goal difference.

Should Longlevens win at the weekend, as expected, it would mean they will be crowned champions if Chalford and Tredworth can’t be separated on Monday.

Not that Smith, who has scored close to 40 goals this season, thinks it will end in a stalemate at Chalford.

“No chance,” he said. “We’ll be going all-out to win and so will Chalford. A draw is no good for us, it’s all or nothing.”

Chalford won the title last season and have enjoyed a remarkable run of form in recent weeks, a run which has transformed their campaign.

At the start of February they were 10^th in the 16-strong division, 14 points adrift of the leaders, although they did have games in hand on all the teams above them.

And Chalford chairman Martin Smith never lost faith in the team. He told The Local Answer three months ago that they could still force their way into the shake-up at the top and he’s delighted that they’ve done just that.

“To win back-to-back titles would be very special,” he said.

“There are always twists and turns over a season but I always knew if we won our games in hand we’d have a chance.

“We’ll give it a real good go on Monday but no matter what the result, I’m very proud of this club. I’m very proud of the team management, the players, the committee, the members."

Tredworth beat Chalford 4-1 in the first league meeting between the two clubs just before Christmas and they have certainly come a long way in a short time under joint managers Smith and Adam Dix.

This is their first campaign in Division One of the Northern Senior League after finishing second behind Tewkesbury Town in Division Two last season, and that promotion came just a year after they were crowned Stroud League champions.

But Smith, who is 40, was always confident that they had what it takes to succeed at the higher level.

“I knew the squad was good enough, 100 percent I knew that,” he said. “We kept the squad together, I was always confident that we’d finish in the top three or four.”

And both Smith and Dix remain committed to the cause.

“We come as a pair,” said Smith. “There’s still things to do, we’ll still be here next year.

“We know we’re a good side, we’re an up-and-coming team who are getting better and better. We’re still progressing, we want to get into the County League.

“Hopefully we’ll get there this season but if not we’ll be one of the favourites next year.”

Chalford missed out on promotion to the County League in the end-of-season play-offs a year ago and Lee Smith says they are favourites to retain their title on Monday.

“They’re at home, they’re the reigning champions,” he said. “But we don’t mind going there as underdogs.”

Martin Smith is expecting a crowd of 300-plus at Chalford on Monday – the club bar will be open – and he added: “It will be a tough game, Tredworth are a good side. Both sides will give it everything.”

The end-of-season County League play-offs involve the Northern Senior League champions, the winners of the Bristol and Suburban League (Filton Athletic) and the winners of the  Bristol Combination Premier League (Totterdown United).