UP NEXT, after possibly their biggest win of the season so far, the first team takes a short trip up the M1 to face Pinxton FC in the second qualifying round of the FA Vase.

Kimberley will look to take their league form into the cup as they face a side in the division below. On first glance, this would be seen as an easy match for Kimberley, who sit top of Premier Division North, but in truth, the times they’ve faced step six opposition this season have provided some of the toughest tests so far.

Pinxton will go into this match full of hope as they will have seen Kimberley’s narrow victories over Birstall in the last round of the Vase and Dunkirk in the league cup. Pinxton currently sit in mid table in division one, but they already have a step five scalp in the league cup two weeks ago with an away victory over Skegness. That result will be a highlight of their fantastic rise through the divisions over the last few years. Pinxton will be a huge threat this weekend.

On Saturday, the first team welcomed bottom side Ashby Ivanhoe to Greenwich Avenue. In what was a very comfortable first half, the Miners took the lead through Josh Timson. The scoreline at half time remained at 1-0 despite the hosts dominating proceedings. The second half went pretty much the same as the first, with Kimberley pushing for more goals. Timson grabbed his second early in the half. Kimberley continued to create chances, but were unable to add to their tally. They were made to pay for the wastefulness in front of goal as Ashby grabbed a goal back on 82 through Sam Birks. Three minutes later, a cross was delivered into the Kimberley area and was claimed by goalkeeper Tom Smith, only for an Ashby player to bundle into Smith, making him drop the ball into his own goal. Rather than signal for a foul on the goalkeeper, the referee inexplicably gave a goal, robbing Kimberley of two points as the game ended 2-2. Kimberley will feel hard done to, but should really have put the game to bed themselves way earlier in the game.
Final Score - Kimberley Miners Welfare 2-2 Ashby Ivanhoe

Pinxton’s last match was a visit to Swallownest on Wednesday evening. A goalless first half was improved upon in the second as Harrison Struggles easily found the back of the net for Swallownest to take the win.

LAST TIME AROUND

Pixton hosted Kimberley in preseason last summer. Two goals from Lewis Weaver and one from Ben Morley gave Kimberley a 3-0 win in the warm up game ahead of last season. A friendly match cannot be considered anything more than a warm up and cannot be seen as any indication as to how much of a test Pixton will be this weekend. This will be a very tough match.

A LITTLE ABOUT THE OPPOSITION

Pinxton FC joined the Central Midlands League in 2004–05 and gained promotion to the Supreme Division in their debut season after finishing in fourth place. They were then relegated straight back to the Premier Division despite finishing just below mid-table but immediately returned to the top division where they played until the league was re-organised along geographical lines to CML North and South in 2011.

They had a very successful stay in the CML south winning the CML League Cup and CML floodlight cup multiple times.

Under the management of Mark Richards they won the Central Midlands League in 2023/24 season and gained promotion to the United Counties League.

Honours
FA Vase: Third round 2015–16
Central Midlands Floodlight Cup winners
Central Midlands League Cup winners
Central Midlands League Title Winners 2023/24
Derbyshire Junior Cup Winners

FINALLY

Both sides will be looking for a win and passage into the next round of the cup. Kimberley will want to put to bed the recent issues against teams from step six, while not taking anything for granted as Pinxton will be very keen to take the scalp of the team currently sitting top of Premier Division North. Having sent various members of the squad to watch Kimberley’s match against Heanor on Tuesday, Pinxton will be well up for this meeting.

We hope to have the company of plenty of the Ultras this weekend as they've been our twelfth man on many occasions so far this season with their fantastic support.

We expect a very exciting match.

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

Admission is £5 for adults, £3 for concessions - CASH ONLY

Kick off is at 15:00

See you there