by Peter Scherer
It’s our penultimate pre-season game of the season and our toughest, as we head up the M1 to face National League North Worksop Town on Tuesday night. But Mickleover’s 4-1 at Matlock with an impressive all-round performance should make it an interesting encounter.
Our last meetings were back in October 2024 when we went down 0-4 at home and 0-6 away, having knocked them out of the FA Trophy a year earlier away 5-0, with Oli Greaves, now a Worksop player scoring two of our goals.
Under Craig Parry’s guidance they won promotion as NPL Division One East Champions in 22/23 and after finishing second in the Northern Premier in 24/25 they were promoted again via the play-offs.
They have played six pre-season games, the last being a 4-0 home win over Garforth last Saturday. They have also beaten Hallam, Retford, Ilkeston and South Normanton and drawn at home to a Barnsley XI.
Parry has been in charge for six years, with Luke Jeffs his assistant and were 16th in last years National League North standings, their first season at step 2.
Goalkeeper Max Dearnley has just arrived from Macclesfield. He started his career at Penistone and Ossett Utd, before signing for Huddersfield Town. His next stop was Farsley Celtic, before spending a year at Buxton, which included a loan spell at Chorley.
Deegan Atherton is a right back who is starting his sixth season at the club, since arriving from Rotherham Utd.
Former Sheffield Wednesday junior Josh Wilde is a left back, who joined Buxton following his Owls release. Gainsborough, North Ferriby Utd, Halifax and Alfreton were his next stops, before joining our hosts in July 2022. He spent part of last season in loan at Cleethorpes.
Mason O’Malley is left back to and a Republic of Ireland Under 21 International, with League Two experience. Huddersfield Town signed him from Hunslet Boys, before he spent four years at Scunthorpe Utd. After a loan at Ilkeston he joined Bradford Park Avenue and came to Worksop in September 2024.
Centre back Andrew Boyce is another new signing, recently arrived from Scunthorpe. He started at Doncaster Rovers and was loaned out to Worksop and Mansfield before a permanent move to Kings Lynn. After spells at Gainsborough and Lincoln City he joined Scunthorpe in 2014. Loans at Grimsby, Hartlepool and Notts County followed, before he went back to Grimsby. He’ played for Eastleigh too before spending the last four years back at Scunthorpe.
Jay Abudu has just arrived too. A defensive midfielder who spent the second half of last season at Ilkeston. He started out at Chesterfield, but had spent the last couple of seasons in Portugal, with Nogueirense and Leixoes.
Central midfielder Liam Waldock is currently on a season long loan from Boston Utd. He started at Sheffield Wednesday and joined Gainsborough following his release. After two years at Alfreton he moved to Boston July 2025 and spent the latter part of last season on loan at Worksop too.
Sam Wedgbury is a midfielder and part of the coaching staff. He’s had League One and Two experience, having started at Worcester City. He spent four years at Sheffield Utd, including loans at Mansfield and Ferencvaros in Hungary, before returning to the UK with Macclesfield. Altrincham, Stevenage, Forest Green, Wrexham, Chesterfield and Buxton are on his CV too, before he arrived at Worksop in July 2022 from Stalybridge.
Central midfielder Sam Essien has recently arrived from Ilkeston. His career started at Halifax and was loaned to Golcar Utd before going to Boston Utd following his release. He also spent eight months at Matlock Town before joining Ilkeston in March 2025.
Vaughan Redford is another central midfielder who has been with our visitors for a second spell since 2020, playing over 200 games and scoring over 50 goals since arriving from Pontefract Collieries. He started out at Liversedge.
Attacking midfielder Oli Greaves is well-known to Mickleover, as part of our play -off team from 23/24. He started out at Sheffield Utd and was loaned to Barrow before a full time move to Dover Athletic. Spells at Matlock and Gainsborough then preceded a seven month stay in Spain with Almunecar. After a short spell at Buxton he joined Mickleover on October 2022 and was an immediate success. He then moved onto League Two Newport County and had five months back a Buxton, before joining our hosts last February.
Alex Starcenko is another long server and another attacking midfielder. He came from Pontefract in October 2020.
Primarily left winger, Lewis Witham came from Guiseley at the start of last season. He started his career with Stocksbridge and has also played for Alfreton and Liversedge.
Chae Whitman-Brown is a right winger, who came to Worksop at the start of last season, following his release from Mansfield Town. He’s also had a loan spell at Hucknall Town.
Striker Kian Haratt is our hosts newest arrival having signed from Oldham Athletic just over a week ago. He has played 72 times in the Championship and League Two and scored seven goals, since starting out in Barnsley and Huddersfield’s Academies. He had loans with Harrogate, Guiseley, Port Vale and Bradford City, before a permanent move to Fleetwood. He joined Oldham in March 2025 and was also loaned to Brackley.
Ben Tomlinson is a striker and part of the coaching staff. He started out at Worksop 18 years ago, before moving on to Macclesfield, Alfreton, Lincoln City and Barnet. He was then loaned to Grimsby, Tranmere and Barrow, before a move to Carlisle Utd. Halifax and a return to Alfreton were his next stops, before a short stop at Frickley Athletic preceded his Worksop move in November 2020.
Kick off at the KC Sofa’s Stadium is 7.45. Parking is limited and the railway station is a 10 minute walk from the ground.