With the freezing weather most local games were postponed. I drove very locally to Staveley Miners Welfare to see an intriguing United Counties Division One game between Staveley Miners Welfare, 7th and Coalville, 4th. The artificial playing surface meant this one was definitely on.
This is a very well run club with top class facilities for this level of football, and even arriving an hour early the main car park was full. Luckilly they have added a tarmacked overflow area. Cash only at the gate was a surprise with many clubs now going cashless. This had also caught a supporter out who followed me in who had no cash. He was obviously a fan, with his dog wearing a blue and white striped jacket. He was allowed in to pay at the bar where there was a minimum £5 purchase level for card purchases.
Even so early, the bar/clubhouse was packed with people drinking, eating, keeping warm and watching the early Premiership game on the TV’s with Villa 3.1 up on Forest.
It was certainly cold with the temperature hovering just above freezing as the wind made the wind chill even colder.
This stadium is spotless with plenty of covered seating and standing, even a fully contained area for the disabled and elderly. It was however the warm clubhouse that everyone wanted to be in.
When the game started the fans were still spilling out of the warmth and it was only then that you could see how many people had been huddling there. From one side of the ground where the seated stand is it was hard to focus, with the bright sun, on the cold clear day, slowly disappearing below the horizon.
Staveley Miners Welfare FC 2 Coalville Town FC 0
Saturday 3rd January 2026. United Counties League Division One. 15.00 pm kickoff.
Attendance 523. 7th v 4th, Trojans v Ravens
Staveley; Blue and white vertical striped shirts to the front with an all blue back. Blue shorts. Goalkeeper in all light green.
Coalville; Grey and white vertical stripes to the front of the shirt with white backs and black shorts. The goalkeeper in all light yellow.
Coalville looked very lively down both wings, and Staveley were competing hard and launching long throws into the away team’s penalty area. From one of these on 20 minutes the ball was thrown in from the right and headed down for Will Wraith to run on to and ram it into the net.
The sun finally dropped below the horizon and with a third of the game gone the floodlights were turned on. Staveley were on top but when Coalville’s Semachimbo burst into the penalty area 5 minutes before halftime, he was bundled over and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Ronnie Morley stepped up to take the penalty which hit the underside of the cross bar and rebounded out. Staveley were happy to go in for the break ahead.
The second half started with the Ravens applying more pressure, and were certainly on top. However a reckless tackle right in front of the two dugouts by Ryan Singh Sabota with 62 minutes gone initiated a few pushes and shoves, and when they calmed down the referee showed him a red card.
The game now changed and was really open with the away team trying to draw level, but with their one man disadvantage they were being stretched in midfield and at the back. With less than 10 minutes to go a fast through ball fell to Joel Ward, who steadied it and ran on to slide it under the goalkeeper, diving to his right.
Coalville did not look like coming back from that and the game made its way to a fine Staveley victory. The players and the fans were pleased to hear the final whistle. Staveley elated, Coalville dejected and the fans happy to get out of the cold.
On such a cold day, luckily the chips were hot, tasty, not greasy, golden, crispy on the outside but a bit squidgy on the inside. A good score of 72. I did think that the warm clubhouse on such a cold day did have some effect on this score.
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