Blidworth Welfare brought down an entertaining, exciting and progressive first season at the helm of the management of Lewis Saxby and Daniel Machin and their coaches this past week. The side currently sit in sixth place with forty points, ten points behind Matlock Town Reserves in fifth and four points above their nearest rivals Swanwick Pentrich Road but with Swanwick still having games to play.

After moving from fellow Black Dragon Division South side Linby Colliery in the summer, Lewis had a massive task on his hands as he looked to re-build the side following the initial exit of Ian Cotton, Ian Birtley and Micheal Wain and then the temporary management of goalkeeper Steve Smith. He immediately brought about big changes both to the backroom staff and the playing squad, moving across a number of his key players from the previous season in which his Linby side finished three places above Blidworth in ninth.

His new look squad started to take shape within days of joining the club with his previous season’s captain Aidy Harris, player of the season Jordan O’Callaghan, towering defender Jonathan Jenkinson and strike duo Lewis Weaver and Josh Brentnall signing up for the campaign. Things were also shored up further defensively as Jason Dawson, Scott Taylor and Jonathan Drake also followed Saxby to the club.

They were soon followed by a plethora of other players who Sax convinced to buy into his upcoming vision. Cameron Davidson joined the club from league rivals Hucknall Town and heads were further turned with the acquisitions of ex-Belper Town player Aaron Pride and ex-Boston player Tony Edwards who joined from Handsworth Paramore and Pinchbeck United respectively.

An new look Blidworth stepped out for the first time in pre-season with an 4-1 win over local rivals and Notts Senior League side Ravenshead FC, the away goals coming courtesy of Lewis Weaver, Aidy Harris, Cameron Davidson and a long range strike from Josh Brentnall.

An experienced Heanor Town side showed the Reds that they still had much work to do as they beat them 3-1 in the next match before Blidworth drew their third pre-season game with a Staveley MW side 2-2 with Aidy Harris and Jason Dawson cancelling out a Ryan Damms double.

Captain Aidy continued his good pre-season form as he picked up a double for himself in an impressive 2-1 win over league winners Selston before the unbeaten run continued with an 3-1 win over Precision Nottinghamshire Senior League side Newark Flowserve. A double for Tony Edwards on his return to the side followed by a third from the night’s captain Aaron Pride but the home side into a comfortable lead before Jack Kettring got a consolation for the eventual league champions.

An array of old faces returned to the Welfare ground as ex-manager Ian Cotton brought his Toolstation Northern Counties East League side Clipstone FC in the next challenging pre-season game. Two Tony Edwards penalties wasn’t enough though as a first half Jermaine Jetau strike was topped with a late double for Joe Harris to give the visitors a 3-2 win.

The challenges kept on coming as Blidworth visited East Midlands Counties League side Kimberley Miners Welfare next, ending up on the wrong side of a 2-1 scoreline before being beaten by the same result day later at home to Shirebrook Town.

With the pre-season out of the way, all eyes were on Church Lane for the pick of the opening day games. Saxby’s side returned to the hunting ground that a lot of them left only weeks earlier where, despite an Aidy Harris red card, the side were able to start the season on a high thanks to two sensational Josh Brentnall strikes giving them three points and a 2-0 win.

The league form would hit an almighty stumbling block soon after though as the side only picked up one win in their next five league games. Blidworth started their first home game of the season in good form, taking a half time lead against promotion chasing Pinxton, only to end up losing 4-2. This was then followed by defeat away to Swanwick Pentrich Road 3-1.

Holbrook St. Michaels were easily brushed aside at the Welfare Ground on August bank holiday weekend as first half strikes from Tony Edwards, Jonathan Drake and Josh Brentnall ensured the Reds would end their two game losing streak whilst showing signs of their potential before substitute Brad Clarke added a fourth late on.

After that win, Blidworth hit the road for the next three matches and ended up on the wrong end of all three results. Mickleover RBL was able to grab a 3-1 win at Poppyfields Drive and Eastwood Community was able to snatch a 2-1 victory at Coronation Park, coming from behind under the floodlights to win in the league whilst Blidworth’s foray into the FA Vase was abruptly ended at the 1st qualifying stage as they were defeated by Blaby and Whetstone at Warwick Road 6-0.

Quick cup exits soon followed for Blidworth in the Notts Senior Cup, Buckingham Insurance League Challenge Cup and the Floodlit Cup too. A depleted Blidworth featuring outfielder Jason Dawson in goal was beaten 4-0 by Eastwood in the Senior cup before Teversal Reserves and South Normanton FC toppled us 2-0 and 3-2 respectively.

Despite the bad run in the cups, Blidworth’s league form went from strength to strength following that unfortunate 2-1 league defeat at Eastwood. The side remained unbeaten for their following six outings as they won 1-0 against an energetic Matlock Town Reserves side, 5-0 verse Aslockton & Orston, 2-0 away to Teversal Reserves and then draws with Keyworth United and Aslockton away.

During that run, Blidworth were also a minute away from becoming the first side to beat league leaders Sherwood Colliery as Aiden Harris’ second half strike was cancelled out in injury time by his namesake Jordan in a fiery local derby at Debdale Park. The afternoon was soured further by the loss of Cameron Davidson for a straight red card as he took one for his team and wiped out Jack Warner as he looked to break in search of a winner in the last action of the match.

Blidworth saw their unbeaten phase end before the end of the year as Pinxton picked up maximum points in a 3-0 win at Wharf Road before Swanwick came away with an 5-2 win at the Welfare Ground courtesy of an hat-trick from Henry Brooks and two more from Guy Wilding despite a late comeback being posed by Josh Brentnall and Aidy Harris strikes.

Spectators were treated to an early fireworks display at Holbrook Park on the 30th of December as Blidworth finished 2017 the right end of a nine goal thriller. Braces for both Lewis Weaver and Josh Brentnall and a late goal from debutant substitute Josh Henry cancelled out doubles for Sam Williamson and home captain Paul Fisher.

The terrible weather we encountered limited Blidworth to just two league fixtures for January 2018, with the Reds ending the month with no more points. AFC Kilburn was able to edge an 1-0 encounter at Leedale Park, thanks to a Ryan Fitzhugh goal and Hucknall Town cruelly stole all three points at the Welfare ground as Ben Jones tapped home from a corner in the 93rd minute to swing the tie to 2-1 in the Yellows’ favour.

League leaders Sherwood were the next visitors to the Welfare and they showed their experience and extended their unbeaten run as they finished the match three goals to the good. Lewis Weaver showed why he is one of the top scorers in the league on the 17th February as his first half double ensured Blidworth overcame Teversal Reserves with Tom Savage’s strike just a mere consolation.

That good goalscoring run continued for the pacey forward but unfortunately the side left it too late in their efforts to come back against Hucknall in their next outing. Goals from Tehvan Tyrell and Ben Jones had given the home side a half time lead before Blidworth’s misery got worse after Joe Ashurst produced a world class strike, it was after that third that Blidworth seemed to go up a gear and they got themselves a footing with a Weaver tap-in on the hour mark. With the time running out, Blidworth went route one and got rewarded for their efforts as Jason Dawson was able to flick on a long kick from goalkeeper Josh Hollis straight into the path of Weaver, who got himself his fourth in two games.

As we entered March, Blidworth’s team started to develop some consistency in their performance and the results showed. The side went on to only lose one of their next five games, picking up ten points in the process.

That run started as the side braced a blizzard at Platt Lane to outclass Keyworth United 5-2 in a game where all three strikers got on the scoresheet. Josh Brentnall and Tony Edwards got themselves a goal a piece but the highlight was a hat-trick for the in-form Lewis Weaver.

The combination of Weaver and Edwards flourished at the back end of the season as the pair built up a near telepathic chemistry. The pair was on hand to break down an resilient Matlock Town Reserves side as they got a quick double of goals just before half time between them under the floodlights at Causeway Lane. Marcus Beddoe got one back for the Gladiators to set up a nervy finish before Edwards got onto the end of a delicious, floated ball over the top from Callum Pursglove late on to confirm all three points.

Kye Pilmore came back to haunt his old boss as Linby made the trip to the Welfare ground at the end of March. The forward was able to bag a double as the Colliery side got revenge for the opening day defeat.

Next up for the Reds was a trip to Hilton with the side throwing away a lead to draw 1-1 in the club’s last away fixture of the season. Tony Edwards showed his cool to step up and convert a penalty on the 3G pitch but a long throw into the box for Hilton was deflected past Josh Hollis by one of his own players to level things up.

The last four games of the campaign for Blidworth all took place at the Welfare Ground. Despite the bad weather we’ve encountered this year, groundsman Chris Wain had done an excellent job of maintaining the playing surface with the grass looking good even after a number of games in quick succession so late in the season. The performances on the pitch were just as good too as the side picked up nine points from their last possible twelve.

Mickleover RBL was the first of the four to visit and they were beaten 2-0 as a goal from man of the match Aidy Harris and another for experienced striker Tony Edwards gave the home side the victory.

Next up was promotion chasing Eastwood who knew only a win would do as they looked to hunt down leaders Sherwood. Despite Blidworth having a number of chances to open the scoring including seeing a Tony Edwards penalty being saved early in the second half, Eastwood stole all three points through a Joe Butler tap-in with just over 20 minutes remaining, condemning the home side to their last defeat of the season.

The determined performances shown by the side in those last two games continued on into the last two as AFC Kilburn was beaten 3-2 thanks to goals by Aidy Harris, Lewis Weaver and the returning Jonathan Jenkinson and then the season was wrapped up last week with that 4-0 win at home to Hilton.

The last few months have been one of progression and growth for the side as they’ve built a reliable squad from scratch at the start of pre-season and started to turn into a formidable opponent for sides to face.

39 players have been named in match day squads this year with Jonathon Drake and Josh Brentnall leading the appearance charts with 31 games being played each whilst Lewis Weaver was top scorer for the club with 20 goals from 28 games, second highest was Tony Edwards who got an respectable 10 goals from 20 games and then in third place was Josh Brentnall with 9 goals. The players that have also caught the eye with their performances and therefore gained the most man of the match awards were Aidy Harris and Lewis Weaver with 5 a piece, followed in third place by Cameron Davidson with 4.

Looking forward, the club will be looking to build on the performances from this season and will be filled with optimism with how the season ended. The bright future for the club has also been added to with the upcoming addition of an under 21’s side which will start their first competitive season when things re-start later in the summer.