UP NEXT, Kimberley Miners Welfare welcomes Wisbech Town to Greenwich Avenue as both sides look to start the year with a win to turnaround recent fortunes.

Kimberley find themselves outside the top five for the first time since September having seen a dramatic change in fortunes over recent weeks. The team does have some returning players from injury and will hope a return to form will follow this weekend as they face a team who got the better of them early in the season. With a win and a draw from the last ten league matches, three points is a must if they are to stay in touch with the playoff spots and avoid slipping into mid-table obscurity.

Wisbech Town make the long trip to Basford in mixed form, having been consistently inconsistent for the entire season so far. With three wins and a draw from their last ten league matches, a win is very much needed to push the team towards mid table and create some space between themselves and the bottom two places.

Last weekend, Kimberley made the short trip to Coronation Park for the second time this season as they faced a resurgent Eastwood CFC. The hosts flew into a six goal lead after just thirty six minutes with Sacha Markelic having a goal disallowed for Kimberley in between. Josh Timson and Sacha Markelic grabbed goals back for the miners in two injury time minutes to take the score into half time at 6-2 to Eastwood with Kimberley making two substitutions before the break. Timson bagged his second two minutes after the restart and returning captain Ryan Wheatley grabbed a disputed fourth for the miners two minutes later. Timson then hit the woodwork, denying him his hat trick. Markelic grabbed his second on the hour mark to make it 6-5. Another player returning from injury, Michael Pearson hit a post from twenty five years, only for Eastwood to then go up the other end and wrap the game up with a seventh. A disgraceful first half from the miners was evened up by the hosts falling asleep for the second half in a game full of excitement and goals but severely lacking in defensive quality from both sides.
Final Score - Eastwood CFC 7-5 KMW

Wisbech also had a relatively local match for Christmas weekend as they welcomed Deeping Rangers to the Fenland Stadium. After a goalless first half, Finlay Henderson opened the scoring for Deeping on the hour mark and substitute Josh Randall wrapped up the win at the end of normal time.
Final Score - Wisbech Town 0-2 Deeping Rangers

LAST TIME AROUND

In August, Kimberley travelled the ninety-odd miles to face Wisbech Town. Wisbech had the better of the early exchanges and were rewarded on thirteen minutes as a long throw-in wasn't dealt with, leaving the Wisbech attacker with a simple tap-in from two yards out. Lewis Partridge drew the miners level just three minutes later as a headed clearance fell to Parts, who controlled and then volleyed from the edge of the box for 2-2. Wisbech retook the lead just after the half hour mark as a free kick was delivered into the Kimberley box. A diving header was parried straight to an attacker who finished from close range to take the scoreline into half time at 2-1 to the hosts, who more than deserved it. The second half continued much like the first, with the home side extending their lead just seven minutes into the half. A long throw-in was somehow missed by all of the defenders, leaving the Wisbech striker a clean run on goal to slot home with ease. The hosts made it 4-1 just twenty minutes later as a low driven corner wasn’t cleared and the Wisbech player slotted home from sixteen yards. Wisbech visibly sat back and let Kimberley back into the game just two minutes later. Some great work from Kole Lambert down the left saw him square the ball for Finn Ryder to control and turn to fire home from close range. Lambert then got onto the scoresheet himself as the Wisbech goalkeeper shanked a free kick low and straight into his path just inside the half for Kole to control and volley home from forty five yards out. With the clock running down, Kimberley had two offside decisions given against them when they looked to have timed things perfectly. This was then made worse after a shot was saved and parried into Finn Ryders path, only for him to be brought down by a Wisbech defender, who first tripped him and then grabbed his trailing leg for a stone wall penalty, which was inexplicably turned down by the match official. Kimberley were left to feel extremely hard done to at full time, losing 4-3 after a fantastic comeback in the last twenty minutes.

The last time the two sides met was in early March at The Stag Ground during Kimberley’s crazy run of win one, lose one in their battle against the drop. The miners started well, with Zak Sandhu opening the scoring as early as the second minute. They had a goal disallowed for handball as the ball was bundled into the net in a pileup of players. The referee must have had good eyes to spot any handball. Wisbech were given a penalty after a clumsy tackle in the host box. Ben Alsopp guessed the right way and saved the spot kick. Kimberley could, and should have gone on to wrap the game up by half time, such was their dominance in the first half. The second half however, was a different story. The visitors came out of the blocks in the same manner as Kimberley did in the first half and were rewarded with an equaliser just as quickly into the second period. With forty two minutes remaining, Kimberley would have expected to pick up where they left off in the first half and regain the lead. This was not the case. A very lacklustre second half from the hosts saw Wisbech take control of the match and wrap up the win with less than ten minutes to go as a cross was not dealt with and the ball found its way into Alsopp's goal.
Final Score - Kimberley Miners Welfare 1 - 2 Wisbech Town

Before that, the sides met towards the end of November at Wisbech. In a match that seriously lacked quality from either side, the home side managed to edge it, with a goal midway through the first half to send the miners back home with a 1-0 defeat.

The two sides met earlier in the season at Wisbech in September in the league cup. Wisbech opened the scoring against the run of play through Elliot Foster. Kimberley scored twice in two minutes after the half hour mark through a Ryan Wheatley header and Kai Wilson’s low shot from the edge of the box after coming on for Ben Morley just five minutes into the match through injury. Foster equalised for Wisbech midway through a scrappy and angry second half. With penalties looking likely, Josh Timson scored the winner in the first minute of injury time to send the miners home with what turned out to be their last win of the season so far.

In the 2023-24 season, the two teams met in March at the Stag Ground. Jon Challinor bagged the only goal of the game as Wisbech took the points in a 1-0- win.

The away match was in November 2024. Sam Murphy scored in the first half, Aaron Coyle equalised on eighty minutes for the final score to be 1-1.
Earlier in the season, the two sides met at the Stag Ground in the league cup. A comfortable win for the home side came through goals from Aaron Coyle, Nathan Banton, Kole Lambert and Bijan Pakrouz after going into half time at 0-0. Final score, 4-0.

A LITTLE ABOUT THE OPPOSITION

Although a Wisbech Town existed in the 1890s, the current club was established in 1920 by the merger of three local clubs. They initially played in the Peterborough & District League, winning it in 1924–25, 1927–28, 1928–29, 1931–32 and 1932–33. In 1935 the club turned semi-professional and joined the United Counties League. Former West Ham player Sam Jennings was the first major signing, and the club won the United Counties League Cup in their first season.

In 1945–46 the club reached the first round of the FA Cup, but lost to Ipswich Town. The following season they won the league title, a feat repeated the season after. In 1950 they switched to the Eastern Counties League, before joining the Midland League in 1952.
In 1995–96 the club reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time since the 1960s, but lost 5–1 at Kingstonian. However, after finishing second in the league that season the club were promoted to the Midland Division of the Southern League. Whilst playing in the Southern League, the club's reserve team entered the Eastern Counties League. The club reached the first round of the FA Cup again in 1996–97, losing 2–1 at home to St Albans City. The following season they reached the second round, after beating Billericay Town 2–1, before losing 2–0 at home to Bristol Rovers.

Having finished the 2012–13 season in second place in the Eastern Counties League Premier Division, the club were eligible for promotion. However, this opportunity was declined in favour of a voluntary lateral movement, rejoining the United Counties League Premier Division instead. They were runners-up in 2017–18, earning promotion to Division One East of the Northern Premier League. After finishing bottom of the Northern Premier League Midland Division at the end of the 2021–22 season, the club were relegated to the Premier Division North of the United Counties League.

Honours

Southern League
Division One champions 1961–62
Eastern Counties League
Champions 1971–72, 1976–77, 1990–91
League Cup winners 2010–11, 2012–13
United Counties League
Champions 1946–47, 1947–48, 1949–50

FINALLY

Both sides will be desperate to begin the new year with three points as both search for an improvement in form. Kimberley will want to make up for defeat earlier in the season, while Wisbech will want to add to their three match winning streak over the miners.

There’s plenty of parking and the clubhouse and bar will be open.

Kick off is at 15:00

See you there