UP NEXT, after a stunning victory at Skegness Town AFC last weekend, the Miners are back at the Stag Ground in the first of two matches in three days over what will be a season defining final weekend of the football calendar. We begin the weekend by welcoming Ashby Ivanhoe and are offering FREE ENTRY TO ALL.

With just two games remaining of the season, Kimberley desperately need to break the “win one, lose one pattern” of the last eleven matches and take maximum points if they are to have the best chance of survival while relying on other results to go their way. Despite taking three points last weekend, the Miners still sit in the bottom two as only Sleaford lost around them.

Ashby Ivanhoe will go into the match sitting comfortably in mid table obscurity. Their final matches will neither see them into the playoffs, nor the relegation places, so other than professional pride, they have little to play for. Having lost six from their last eight matches, Ashby will be keen to end the season with two more wins, making them a dangerous proposition at this stage.

Kimberleys last match was a seaside trip to Skegness Town AFC last weekend. As is now customary, the Miners followed the win one, lose one pattern and ran out with a 3-1 win after a fantastic second half showing. A very poor first half from both sides lacked in both goalmouth action and quality as neither side managed a shot on target in the opening forty five. Kimberley, however sprung into life in the second half but were made to wait until the final twenty minutes to make the breakthrough as Dan Tuck opened the scoring with a well taken finish from eight yards after some great work from Fin Ryder. Aaron Coyle turned in a free kick from Matt Moffatt just seven minutes later to double the lead. On ninety minutes, a horrible goal kick was seized upon by Aaron Coyle only to see his blocked shot drop to Lewis Weaver, who still had a lot to do to turn the ball into the goal for 3-0. Substitute Ben Morley had a late shot blocked to deny Kimberley a fourth. Into the third minute of stoppage time, Skegness grabbed a consolation for the match to finish 3-1 to Kimberley. With other results going against them, this fantastic result was not enough to drag the miners out of the bottom two, but it did keep them in touch as things will go down to the wire for the Easter Weekend.

Ashby Ivanhoe hosted playoff chasing Boston Town last weekend. Pierce Hudson opened the scoring for Boston in the first half before Matt Cotton and Jordan Nuttell added second half goals for Boston. Substitute Ashley Garner grabbed a late goal for Ashby as they went down to a third defeat in a row.

LAST TIME AROUND

The two sides last met in the league in October as Ashby scored twice in each half through Sam Grouse and Will Robson both times for a comfortable 4-0 win.

The two sides also met in the Sports Ground Development Cup in September. The match was meant to be played at Ashby, but the fixture was moved to the Stag Ground to get the game played. An early goal set the pattern of the game for Ashby, followed by a goal on the half hour mark to put the visitors 2-0 up. Kimberley pushed in the second half, but a third goal for Ashby, eight minutes from time saw them through to the next round of the cup.

Last season, the two sides met in December. In front of a crowd of 237, the sides went into halftime with the score at 0-0. The second half saw both sides hit the back of the net through Dylan Reason and Macauley Holmes respectively. Michael Pearson was given his marching orders for a second yellow card just after the hour mark.

The sides met again at the Stag in October in the league cup. Sam Grouse scored the only goal of the game for Ashby. Pearson in the book again for Kimberley.

The league match at Ashby was in mid August of 2023. Grouse, Harrison and Carta all on the scoresheet for the home side in a 3-0 Ashby win.

A LITTLE ABOUT THE OPPOSITION

Ashby Ivanhoe Football Club was founded in 1948 and play their home matches at the NFU Sports Ground, Lower Packington Road, Ashby de la Zouch in Leicestershire, which they moved to in 2012, and purchased in 2021. Before that, the club had played at Hood Park from when they were formed in 1948, until the end of the 2011/12 season.
The club currently consists of two adult teams, the first team are in step 5 of the United Counties League Premier Division North and the Knights are at step 6 in the Everards Brewery Senior League Premier Division.
The club has forty youth teams, covering both boys and girls.
The 2022/23 season was one for the record books and it was quite fitting that during the year the club celebrated its 75th Anniversary, the Senior and Junior sections, both thrived bringing home a whole raft of silverware and promotions. The First Team fought eventual league winners Dudley Town all the way to the end and finished 2nd place - the highest league position that the club has ever finished. This led to a home play-off Semi-Final, which saw us narrowly beat OJM Black Country 1-0 to reach the Play-Off Final. The Play-Off Final was a momentous day in the history of the club as it would see us beat Droitwich Spa 2-1 with a last-minute Joel Carta goal in front of a packed NFU crowd of 1023 to seal promotion and bring Step 5 to the town for the first time ever.

Honours

East Midlands Counties Football League
League Cup Runners Up: 2016/2017
Leicestershire Senior League
Premier Division Champions: 2010/2011
Division One Winners: 2022/23
Division One Runners Up: 2007/2008
North Leicestershire Football League
Premier Division Champions: 1994/1995, 1996/1997 1998/1999, 2002/2003
Premier Division Runners-Up: 1997/1998, 2004/2005
Cobbin Trophy Winners: 1996/1997
Chairmans Shield Winners: 1995/1996, 1996/1997
Leicestershire Senior Cup Winners: 2022/23 Runners Up: 2011/2012, 2012/2013
Coalville Charity Cup
Winners: 2010/2011
Runners Up: 2002/2003
Midland Football League
Division One Play Off Final Winners: 2022/23
Presidents Trophy Winners: 2022/23

FINALLY

This is a massive weekend for the club, which will either see them survive or slip into Division One. The lads have worked hard all season and after a vast improvement after Christmas find themselves in with a chance of staying up. The club are offering FREE ENTRY and hope for a huge crowd to get behind the lads in the last game at the Stag Ground this year as we will be playing our home matches elsewhere for the remainder of 2025 as the clubhouse will be getting knocked down and rebuilt.

The bar will be open from 13:00

Please come along and support the boys. We need you.