UP NEXT, after a stunning midweek victory under the lights over a local rival, the miners make a trip to Lincolnshire to face newly promoted Blackstones, who are having a great start to the season.

Kimberley Miners Welfare go into the match on the back of a win over local rivals, Hucknall Town and a penalties victory last weekend in the FA Vase. These results take the unbeaten run to twelve matches in all competitions, winning the last eight.

Blackstones, having won promotion via the playoffs last season have enjoyed a great start to life in step five. A fantastic start to the season has been tempered recently with three defeats in a row, which is Blackstones’ worst run of the season so far and something they would want to change this weekend. Blackstones currently sit in ninth spot, just three points outside the playoff places.

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 Wednesday night, the miners made the short trip to Aerial way, where they faced Hucknall Town. Kole Lambert opened the scoring for Kimberley on the half hour mark to lead at half time. Ex-Kimberley man, Aaron Coyle equalised with nine minutes of normal time remaining. Lambert then bagged his second four minutes later to take the points for Kimberley. These goals took Kole's total to thirteen goals in fifteen matches, with six of those coming in his last three appearances.
Final Score - Hucknall Town 1-2 Kimberley Miners Welfare

Blackstones’ last match was also on Wednesday night as they welcomed Newark & Sherwood United to the social club. Scott Floyd scored twice and Luke White wrapped up the win for the visitors, making it three losses in a row for Blackstones.
Final Score - Blackstones 0-3 Newark & Sherwood United

LAST TIME AROUND

The two sides last met in Kimberley’s promotion season of 2021-22 as Blackstones stayed in the division despite finishing in the bottom three. The visit to Blackstones was at the end of February 2022. Goals from Luis Rose, Josh Barr-Roston, Aaron Coyle, Bijan Pakrouz and an own goal wrapped up a one-sided 5-0 victory for the miners.

The earlier match that season was early in the season at The Stag Ground. Tom Eccleshall opened the scoring for Kimberley in the first minute. Sam Brown doubled the lead on the stroke of half time. Cameron Vickers, Luis Rose and Josh Barr-Roston added three more at the start of the second half before Harvey Hollis grabbed a goal back for Blackstones. Bijan Pakrouz and two from Blaise Duruaku rounded off another dominant 8-1 win for Kimberley.

A LITTLE ABOUT THE OPPOSITION

Formed as the works team of Blackstone & Co, the club won the Peterborough & District League in 1918–19. However, they subsequently dropped into more local football, playing in the Stamford & District and Bourne & District leagues, winning the last Stamford & District league title before World War II.

Following the war, Blackstones rejoined the Peterborough & District League. They finished bottom of Division One in 1950–51 and were relegated to Division Two. The following season saw them finish bottom of Division Two, after which they left the league. They rejoined the league in 1959, and were Division Two champions in 1961–62 and Division One champions in 1975–76. During this period they were renamed Mirrlees Blackstone after the company merged with Mirrlees National Limited in 1969.

In 1984 Blackstones joined Division One of the United Counties League. After finishing as runners-up in 1987–88, they were promoted to the Premier Division. The 1992−93 season saw them win the Lincolnshire Senior 'A' Cup, beating Bourne Town in the final. In 1998 they adopted their current name after Mirrlees Blackstone closed its Stamford works. In 2002–03 they won the Premier Division Knock-Out Cup with a 4–0 win against Buckingham Town in the final; the following season they won the Lincolnshire Senior 'A' Cup for a second time.

After finishing second-from-bottom of the Premier Division in 2012−13, Blackstones were relegated to Division One. They finished fourth in Division One in 2024–25, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. After beating Retford United 3–0 in the semi-finals, they defeated Retford 3–2 in the final, earning promotion to the Premier Division North.

FINALLY

Both sides will be doing all they can to take the points this weekend. Kimberley will want to continue their fantastic run of form, while Blackstones will want to get themselves back on track after slipping up in recent weeks.

Both sides have done very well so far this season and

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

Kick off is at 15:00

After another fantastic showing from the ultras, we hope to see you and all of our other brilliant travelling support.

See you there