In the lead up to Christmas, we made the short trip to playoff chasing Heanor Town and came away with a 2-1 loss after levelling and then throwing the result away.

Ryan said "This was a tale of a few of our games this season, working hard but mistakes costing us a result. They’re a good side as shown by their FA Vase run and the conditions favoured them in the first half going on a downhill with the wind with them. We struggled to get ourselves up the pitch and maintain control of the ball. In the second half the conditions favoured us and we went straight on the front foot with three or four good chances, finally scoring one of them but then to concede a few minutes later was sloppy.

Boxing Day saw only our second league win of the season against Hucknall Town.

Ryan's thoughts of the festive match were "Hucknall was another local derby which, with them at the time being one of closest rivals in the table meant we had to win. All the lads fought hard on a heavy pitch, but the togetherness from the starting eleven, lads on the bench and coaching staff was what I think pulled us through along with a bit of quality when we needed it from Azza with a good header."

The first match of 2025 was delayed due to postponements, but the Miners finally got underway with a 2-0 home win against Melton Town last weekend. "With games called off and a few weeks without league football it could’ve halted our progress on the back of the Hucknall win but everyone’s attitude and effort leading up to the game was top notch and again I think man for man we out worked our opponents. We put bodies on the line and then Tucky pops up with a good strike or slice cause I’ve never seen him hit a ball like that, then less said about Azza’s pen the better, on the whole we was worthy of the win."

The conversation ended with Ryan saying

"Looking ahead, we have got a bit of belief back and should be positive in how we’ve played with the results to back it up. We just need to keep applying ourselves correctly and work hard for each other"

Kimberley's next match is away at promotion chasing Newark Town on Saturday. Please get along and support the lads in their battle against the drop.