The race for the Counties 2 Gloucestershire title is set for a thrilling finale.

Cinderford United, Smiths and Frampton Cotterell are locked in a three-way battle to finish on top of the 12-team A division. It's a battle that has become all the more intense over the past 10 days thanks to the heroics of Old Patesians.

Chris Raymond’s side, who are seventh, followed up their fine 14-12 win at Frampton Cotterell 10 days ago by beating Cinderford United 23-21 at home on Saturday. The results have thrown the title race wide open.

Smiths, who beat Stroud 46-23 at the Prince of Wales Stadium on Friday evening, now trail leaders Cinderford by just three points with both teams having six games to play.

Frampton Cotterell are five points behind Smiths but have played a game fewer. What makes it all the more interesting is all three teams play each other this month.

Supporters of fourth-placed St Mary’s Old Boys – 60 points from 15 games – will also believe their club is still in the title hunt, but Cinderford United coach Paul Morris believes it will be a three-way shootout and he believes the title could be decided in March.

Smiths travel to Frampton on Saturday and then two weeks later they are at home to Cinderford, who are away to Frampton on Saturday 28^th March.

The league is unlikely to be decided mathematically before the start of April, of course, and Morris acknowledges that his team will still have some tough fixtures to play next month, but clearly the next three weeks are going to be very important.

“It will be like a mini three-league shootout, it’s a big month,” said Morris. “These games will be decisive. If we’re still top of the league after those games we’ll be in a good position.”

Cinderford’s defeat on Saturday ended a run of 12 successive wins. Morris, a former scrum-half with the Pats who was also part of the club’s coaching set-up during Raymond’s first spell as head coach in the early noughties, was disappointed with how that run ended.

“They deserved their win,” he said. “Any side coached by Chris Raymond is a threat but it surprised me how they won. They undid us in the set-piece.

“Our skill-set wasn’t great. Our game-management wasn’t great and we panicked because we were put under much more pressure than we expected.”

Cinderford are at home to bottom-of-the-table Old Richians on Saturday and Morris, who lives in Dursley, is expecting a reaction.

“We will put it right, this is not the end of our season,” he said. “I was disappointed with the players and myself on Saturday. It was a wake-up call, I need to get back on it.”

Morris, who was director of rugby at Cinderford for eight-and-a-half years – the majority of that time in National League One – before standing down at the end of the 2023/24 season, is relishing his current role at the club despite Saturday’s setback.

“It’s a great league, I’m really enjoying it,” he said. “Apart from Old Elizabethans I’ve played at all the grounds in this division. It’s quite nostalgic.

“I don’t miss all the travelling. From my home, the farthest I have to go is Bream and after that it’s Cinderford. Everything else is like popping down the shops!

“When we played at Dursley, I could see their ground from the top of my drive. It took me one minute, 42 seconds to get there. I didn’t finish my Spotify song.”

Old Patesians will always have a very special place in Morris’ heart, the only club he ever played for.

“I care about the Pats, I’m proud of them,” he said. “I always know their result before I get home on a Saturday night, and I certainly did on Saturday!”

It’s Cinderford United’s results that matter most to him now, of course, and he continued: “Before Saturday we were unbeaten since the start of October. I’m proud of this team.”