This week, the miners welcomed back striker Lewis Weaver into the club after he took a wrong turn leaving his house one day and ended up lost in Clipstone for a few months.

With last week’s fantastic result, the miners have moved out of the relegation places. While recent form has been inconsistent, Kimberley have won six of their last ten matches and drawn one. This form has seen the team rise from the foot of the division and down, to third from bottom and in with a great shout of survival. The last week has seen Sleaford Town and Deeping Rangers fall back into the relegation picture, but have five points to play with as Gresley Rovers now occupy the second relegation spot.

Lincoln United head into the fixture as the in-form side in the division, winning four and drawing two from their last six matches. In fact, their unbeaten run stretches back fourteen games, with their last league defeat coming in mid-November against Hucknall Town. With too many draws in this fantastic run, the whites find themselves four points behind Eastwood in top spot. They will no doubt see this weekends’ match as an opportunity to extend that run further and close the gap as Eastwood travel to second placed Bourne Town.

Last weekend, the first team welcomed Sleaford Town to the Stag Ground. A scrappy start saw both teams struggle to get a foothold in the game, with the referee taking most of the attention with some bizarre decisions from the off. Jordan Wheatley, making his one hundredth appearance for the club, was sin binned early on for asking a question, making things difficult for the miners. Amid the chaos, Oliver Seeby opened the scoring for Kimberley. The Sleaford goalkeeper somehow thought he was impeded despite not being touched, and was sin binned for his trouble. Ben Alsopp performed his now customary heroics in saving yet another penalty. Kimberley capitalised on this and the sin-binned Sleaford goalkeeper as Lewis Partridge doubled the lead eight minutes later as a low cross deflected off the stand-in goalkeeper for 2-0 as the miners were now well on top. Early in the second half, Finn Ryder converted a penalty and substitute Paul Johnson wrapped up a dominant team display with a fourth with minutes to go. A great performance and win which sees the miners move out of the bottom two with six matches remaining.
Final Score - Kimberley Miners Welfare 4 - 0 Sleaford Town

Lincoln United’s last match was on Tuesday night in the form of an away trip to Harrowby United. The hosts thought that they’d broken Lincoln’s unbeaten run through an early goal from Kegan Everington, only for Scott Matthews to equalise for the whites deep into added time at the end of the second half. The draw saw Lincoln miss out on second spot as they were unable to capitalise on their game in hand.

LAST TIME AROUND

The two sides met at Lincoln in mid October as the hosts were recovering from some patchy form. In a first half that saw Kimberley playing well above their form of seven straight defeats, Lincoln went into the break just a goal ahead after an absolute beauty from Tom Hipwell as he bent the ball into the top corner from the edge of the box. The second half saw a by now characteristic collapse from Kimberley as they undid all of their hard work in the first forty five minutes. Richie Burdett, Henry Moore, Elliot Dye and Tristan Drummond all scored in the space of nineteen minutes. Nat Peters scored Kimberley’s late consolation to leave the miners licking their wounds after a 5-1 defeat.

Last season, the two sides were separated by a massive thirty eight points as Lincoln finished second, eleven points behind league champions Sherwood Colliery and went on to lose in the playoffs.

The two sides first encounter was the opening fixture of the season, taking place at Lincoln. With the score at half time at 0-0, Jake Park scored with eleven to go for Lincoln to take the points.

The return fixture at The Stag Ground came in November. Matt Cotton scored a goal at each end of the match for Lincoln to take a 2–0 win.

The club was established in 1938 as Lincoln Amateurs, but World War II prevented them from joining a league until 1945, when they became members of the Lincolnshire League. The following season saw them transfer to the Lincoln League, and in 1954 the club were renamed Lincoln United after taking on a paid player, Ray Bean. In 1960 they rejoined the Lincolnshire League and went on to win the league title in 1963–64. The club moved up to Division Two of the Yorkshire League in 1967 and won the division at the first attempt, earning promotion to Division One.

Lincoln United were Division One champions in 1970–71 and again in 1973–74. However, after finishing bottom of the division in 1978–79, the club were relegated to Division Two. A third-place finish in Division Two in 1980–81 saw them promoted back to Division One. In 1981 the Yorkshire League merged with the Midland League to form the Northern Counties East League, with Lincoln placed in Division One South. Although they won the division in the league's inaugural season, the club were not promoted. League reorganisation in 1985 led to Lincoln being placed in Division Two. Although they won the division at the first attempt, the club left the league to join the newly formed Supreme Division of the Central Midlands League.

The 1991–92 season saw Lincoln United reach the first round of the FA Cup for the first time, losing 7–0 at Huddersfield Town; this was the first (and still the only) time a club from the Central Midlands League reached the FA Cup first round. They went on to win the Supreme Division at the end of the season and moved back up to Division One of the Northern Counties East League. The following season saw the club win the Division One title, securing promotion to the Premier Division. They went on to win the Premier Division in 1994–95 and were promoted to Division One of the Northern Premier League.

The next two seasons saw Lincoln finish third in Division One, narrowly missing out on the two promotion places. In 1997–98 they reached the FA Cup first round again, losing 2–0 at Walsall. A fourth-place finish in 2003–04 was enough for promotion to the Premier Division, with the creation of the Conference North and South seeing numerous clubs promoted to fill the new divisions. However, the club were relegated in 2007–08 after finishing bottom of the Premier Division, dropping into Division One South. In 2015–16 they finished fifth in the division, qualifying for the promotion play-offs for the first time. In the play-offs the club were beaten 3–2 in the semi-finals by Shaw Lane. The following season the club won the Lincolnshire Senior Cup for the first time, beating Stamford 3–2 in the final.

In 2022–23 Lincoln finished third-from-bottom of Division One East of the Northern Premier League, resulting in them facing an inter-step play-off with a club from the division below. After being beaten 2–1 by Avro they were relegated to the Premier Division North of the United Counties League. They were runners-up in the division the following season, subsequently losing 3–1 to Skegness Town in the play-off semi-finals.

Honours
Northern Counties East League
- Premier Division champions 1994–95
- Division One champions 1992–93
- Division One South champions 1982–83
- Division Two champions 1985–86
Presidents Cup
- winners 1993–94
Yorkshire League
- Division One champions 1970–71, 1973–74
Division Two
- champions 1967–68
Central Midlands League
- Supreme Division champions 1991–92
Lincolnshire League
- Champions 1963–64
Lincolnshire Senior Shield
- Winners 2005–06
Lincolnshire Senior Cup
- Winners 2016–17
Lincolnshire Senior A Cup
- Winners 1972–73, 1985–86, 1995–96
Lincolnshire Senior B Cup
- Winners 1963–64, 1970–71
Lincolnshire Intermediate Cup
- Winners 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1980–81
Lincolnshire Junior Cup
- Winners 1955–56

FINALLY

This Non-League day, we hope for a really big crowd at The Stag Ground as the miners continue their battle to remain playing Step five football next season. Remember, it is FREE ENTRY for this weekend’s match.

The bar will be open from 1pm

Please come along and support the boys. We need you.