Barring a catastrophe this weekend, Bristol will be playing Premier One cricket for a second successive summer next year.

Knowle's 75-run defeat at Glastonbury and the six points Bristol collected from their five-wicket loss against Taunton St Andrews means the Failand-based outfit cannot be caught.

And they go into tomorrow's home match with basement side Downend knowing survival has been secured in their first season back in the division, following a three-year absence.

Skipper Jim Williams said: "We are safe. Barring something horrendous happening in the last game, like we lose and get penalised points, I don't think it's (staying up) a problem.

"We, as a club, are delighted. We feel that we have not performed as well as we could have done.

"But, having been promoted last summer, the main priority was to stay in this league and we are pleased we have done that."

Consecutive victories earlier this month allowed Bristol to climb from the drop zone and virtually secure Premier One status for next year.

They beat sixth-placed Corsham by 10 runs before stunning reigning champions Bath the following week with a six-wicket win.

In a low-scoring contest, Will Rudge's 7-30 and Darren Hooey's 3-25 secured the victory against Corsham when defending 71.

Then, Will Tavare (56 not out) and Williams (28 not out) guided Bristol home against Bath when chasing 142.

"They were crucial wins," added Williams. "The victories came against teams who are quite a few points above us in the league.

"When we played Bath they still had an outside chance of winning the league. They probably came to Bristol expecting to take their title race to the final two matches.

"Will and myself put on 60-70 runs for the fifth wicket.

"We did have a bit of wobble in that game and it could have gone either way. In the end, and looking at the scoreboard, the win looked quite comfortable."

Knowle claimed the Bristol & District Cup in the final against Bristol earlier this month.

But Williams admitted the club used that competition to blood youngsters and fringe players.

Survival remained the top priority for both clubs. But, with Downend and Knowle going down, the Bristol captain hopes the city's top players will be attracted to Failand next year.

He added: "We have a few youngsters coming through. We certainly need to recruit a few more players if we are to try and get further up the table. It might help us with two Bristol clubs going down.

"If there are any young cricketers in Bristol with aspirations of playing top-flight cricket, they may gravitate to us or Thornbury. Thornbury should be promoted from Premier Two.

"I also think we'll look to get an overseas player. It's quite important from a club point of view to have a presence at the club and have someone who can help with the coaching."