UP NEXT, after a temporary return to league action, the miners are again in cup competition as they make the first of two away trips to the YMCA Newark and Sherwood Activity Village. This time around, it’s the FA Vase first round proper as they face Newark Town.

Kimberley Miners Welfare go into the match on the back of a long away trip to Deeping Rangers, where a fantastic victory made it ten games unbeaten in all competitions, winning nine of those matches.

Newark Town head into the fixture on the back of two heavy home defeats and will be keen on turning their fortunes around against a Kimberley side whom they faced only three weeks ago. Newark will be in search of some consistency having lost four out of their last six matches in all competitions. As proved in the earlier fixture at Basford, Newark will provide a very tough test for Kimberley.

On Saturday, the first team travelled to a venue where they suffered a heavy defeat last season. This time around, however, the miners are a completely different animal, sitting in the top three in the division rather than the bottom end of the table last term. The first half yielded little in the way of goalmouth action as the teams went in goalless at half time. Kimberley improved hugely in the second half and opened the scoring through the returning Sacha Markelic, marking his second debut for the club with a cool finish from a low cross from top scorer Fin Ryder. The lead was doubled twenty five minutes later as Kole LAmbert, back from injury finished off a low cross from Jordan Wheatley. The result was wrapped up with two minutes of normal time remaining when Nat Peters received the ball from Kole Lambert, cut inside two players inside the Deeping Penalty area and bent the ball into the top corner from seventeen yards. The result keeps the miners in third spot on goal difference as the top three are tied on twenty six points.
Final Score - Deeping Rangers 0-3 Kimberley Miners Welfare

Newark Town also played last weekend in the league as they welcomed Belper united to the YMCA. Newark opened the scoring through Ryan Rushen in the fifth minute. That was to be Newark’s only goal as Belper scored two quick goals in the fourteenth minute through Kyle Bryant and then in the seventeenth through Keaton August. August grabbed his second on forty four minutes and Jay Bruce made it 4-1 to the visitors five minutes into injury time at the end of the first half. No change to the scoreline in the second half meant the match finished Newark Town 1-4 Belper United.

LAST TIME AROUND

Three weeks ago, the miners welcomed Newark Town to our temporary home at Basford United in a second vs third match in the league. After an even first half, Kimberley stepped things up in the second and were rewarded with just four minutes of normal time remaining as Fin Ryder broke the deadlock. Five minutes into added time, Raphael Garrett sealed the win, scoring his first goal for the club after being set up by Dan Davy who raced clear from the halfway line and avoided the onrushing goalkeeper as he squared the ball to Garrett who controlled and finished for the win.

Last season the two sides in January as Kimberley travelled to the YMCA at Newark. After two wins in a row, the lads were in good form. This was apparent as early as the twenty fourth minute as Finn Ryder latched onto a great pass from Zak Sandhu to bend a shot beyond the despairing Newark goalkeeper to put the miners in the lead. Despite heavy pressure from Newark, and a great first half between the sticks from goalkeeper Tom Smith, Kimberley went into half time a goal up. As expected, Newark began the second half all guns blazing. Kimberley, though, extended their lead just before the hour mark as a Michael Pearson free kick was missed by everyone and went into the net for 2-0. The lead was cut back to 2-1 just seven minutes later as Newark's heavy pressure paid off. Kimberley fought like lions for the rest of the half, with Tom Smith in particular outstanding in goal. Somehow, the referee managed to find seven minutes of added time, although the signal of five minutes added came in the ninety second minute. Deep into Fergie time, Newark found an equaliser in what felt like time being added on until they scored. A stunning away performance from Kimberley, which deserved, and should have taken all three points. 2-2

The two sides met in early August 2024 at The Stag Ground as last season was just getting underway. A Lewis Weaver goal for Kimberley was not enough as Matt Clarke, Ryan Rushen, Ryan Smith and Lucus Cotterill warped up a 4-1 for Newark Town

A LITTLE ABOUT THE OPPOSITION

The original Newark Town FC was formed in 1868 and was a member of the Midland Counties League where they enjoyed some success.

The club disbanded in the mid-1930s as their ground was subject to a compulsory purchase order to form part of the new cattle market site. Unfortunately, a suitable replacement site was not easily accessible at that time.

In the 1970s a small group led by Keith Bee reformed Newark Town FC whereby they started playing at Devon Park and entered into one of the Nottingham leagues. This venture was short lived sadly and the name of Newark Town FC again passed into history.
Fortunately, under the leadership of Paul Baggaley, the club was reformed again in 1991 and its first venture was to enter a team in the Notts Imperial Youth League (under 16s).

From 1991 to 1994 a Junior Section became established playing in the Young Elizabethan and Notts Imperial Leagues.
In 1994 the club took the step into Senior Football by entering teams in the Midland Regional Alliance and Grantham & District Leagues.
In 1997 the club was admitted into the Notts Football Alliance which was, at the time, the senior league within the county. During 1998 the club was instrumental in establishing the New Newark Youth Football League.
The hard work and dedication put in by the Club over the years led to being awarded FA Community Club status in 2018 which resulted in grant aid being available to allow a joint venture with Newark and Sherwood District Council to enhance the facilities at Devon Park as a base for the Junior Section.

The Club manages the Tom Mann Pavilion on the site, not just for football activities, but for a number of other third party events throughout the year.
Today, the Club now runs teams from under 7s to under 18s in the Junior Section, Development team, Sunday Team and First Team in the Senior Section.

FINALLY

Both sides will be doing all they can to progress into the second round of the FA Vase. Kimberley will want to continue their fantastic run of form, while Newark will want to get themselves back on track after slipping up in recent weeks.

We’ve already seen this season that both are very good sides and we expect a very tough match and the lads will have to work very hard if they are to get into the next round.

This makes for a very interesting and exciting match in prospect.

Kick off is at 15:00

The ultras have been fantastic all season and we hope you and as many other supporters as possible join us for this trip.

See you there