Match Preview

League leaders and UCL Prem North champions elect Sherwood Colliery visit the Haydon Whitham this Saturday afternoon.

Its a huge match in which Rangers will need to cause an upset to keep their own promotion dreams alive.

Here is the lowdown on our opponents.

Sherwood Colliery FC reformed in 2008 with a view to giving Mansfield Woodhouse a Saturday Adult team that the town had lacked for many years. With predominantly young players, the club entered the Midland Amateur Alliance (MAA) in 2008-09. The following season saw the introduction of a reserve team, both teams playing in the MAA.

In 2010-11, the First Team won the MAA 1 st Division Championship while the reserves gained promotion from Division 2.

In 2012-13, an application to join the Central Midlands League was successful. The club entered a First team in the North Division and a Reserve team in the Reserve Premier League and with a young squad of players managed the adjustment to the higher level of football reasonably well. A third (A) team was added in 2013-14 with an even younger squad of players who played in the MAA to gain experience of adult football.

2013-14 saw the first team achieve a creditable 10 th place in the North division while the Reserves completed a Reserve Premier and Reserve League Cup double. The ‘A’ team finished in 4 th place in the MAA Division 2. Despite this success, the club suffered a hammer blow in the close season prior to the 2014-15 season with the management teams leaving the club only 2 weeks before the start of the season. The club managed to somehow put managers and players in place and fulfil the fixtures.

The 2015-16 season saw an influx of new committee members and new First and Reserve team managers appointed in early June. Wayne Savage joined from Bilsthorpe FC and remains in the post. He secured promotion via the CML South runners-up position in 2017-18 and the club achieved Step 5 status in 2021-22 through the points per game restructure following 2 covid-19 affected seasons, the team finished a creditable 5 th place in the highly competitive Northern Counties East League and reached the first qualifying round of the FA Cup for the first time in their history. 2022-23 saw another change of league, a lateral move to the United Counties League and a 6th placed finish after an inconsistent season.

The club run an Under 21 team that compete in the North Midlands Development League (winning the Southern Championship in 2022-23) and at the other end of the scale a Veterans team that has won back to back titles in the East Midlands Veterans League and will play in the Premier League for the first time in 2023-24.

You will be able to read more about our opponents in the match day programme.