Sports Visit FA Cup Heroes: Coalville Town (A)

by Peter Scherer

Back into fourth in the table after Saturday’s win over Stratford, Mickleover will be seeking revenge over Coalville Town, following their 2-4 win at the Don Amott Arena.

Manager Adam Stevens has managed to keep a fairly stable sign over the last couple of months, which has seen their league position suffer, but brought FA Cup success.

Formerly top of the table, they are now five points behind Mickleover, with three games in hand, currently eighth in the table.

Their win against Notts County will go down in club history, after it earned them the first round proper tie at Charlton Athletic.

Without a game last Saturday, their last league outing was a 2-2 draw at Hitchin, after drawing 1-1 in their last home game against Stratford. October 24th saw their last league victory  3-1 at home to Kings Langley.

Keeper Paul White came from Peterborough Sports in July, having started out with Cork City in his native Ireland.

His first English club was Forest Green, who also loaned him to Gloucester, before joining Boreham Wood following his release. He has also played for Accrington, Kettering, Hereford and St Ives.

Former Grimsby junior midfielder Andi Thanoj was also a July signing, from Boston Utd. He has also played for Alfreton, Harrogate and Redditch.

Midfielder Tendai Chitiza is a newcomer too, he started at Leicester Nirvana, before moving onto Gresley Rovers, before a year in Serbia with CSK Celarevo and FK TSC. He returned to the UK with Stamford in July 2019, from where Coalville picked him up.

Striker Ash Chambers was a Leicester City youth player, with over 200 league appearances under his belt, with the likes of Wycombe, Grimsby, York, Cambridge Utd, Dagenham & Redbridge, before non-league spells at Nuneaton, Kidderminster and Brackley. He came to Coalville after a year at Buxton and was on the scoresheet against scored their goal against Charlton Athletic in the recent FA 1sr round defeat.

Midfielder George Wilson arrived in July too. A former Blackburn junior, he played for Loughborough University after his release and had a spell in Sweden with Ljungskile SK before arriving at Coalville. 

Second choice keeper Jake Laban was a pre-season signing, having arrived from Burton Albion.

Skipper Joe Doyle-Charles has been Coalville for four years. The midfielder started out as a Burton Albion Youth player and joined Ilkeston on his release in 2015. He has also played for Alfreton and came to Coalville from Matlock Town.

Midfield partner Tom McGlinchey can go one better, as he arrived from Leicester Road five years ago. 

Striker Tim Berridge is another longer serving player, since arriving from Dunkirk in 2018 and has scored 66 goals since his arrival, 22 of them last season.

Defender Elliott Putman came in from Barwell in September 2021.  He started out at Leicester City and has also played for Stamford and Oadby.

Alex Dean is the longest serving of al the squad, having rejoined our visitors for the second time in 2014. He back from Solihull Moors, but has also played at Nuneaton Town alongside his twin brother and Bedworth Utd.

Right back Jake Eggleton was a West Ham youth player, who joined Hendon on his release in 2018. After a short spell at Hampton & Richmond he went to Loughborough University, arriving at Coalville in August 2020.

Veteran centre back Chris Robertson has had a long and varied career, which kicked off as a Sheffield Utd Junior. After loans at Chester and Torquay he had 18 months at Preston North End, moving on via Port Vale, Ross County, AFC Wimbledon, Swindon, Havant & Waterlooville and Ilkeston. 

He came to Coalville in July 2020 after six months at Grantham and has played over 300 league games in his career with 16 goals.

Midfielder Connor Smith came from Loughborough University in 2020, after being a Nottingham Forest Youth team player.

Luke Shaw is another midfielder who favours the wing. He was signed from Grantham in 2018 and scored 12 goals last season.

The oldest player in the squad at 37 is midfielder Steve Towers, now starting his sixth year with the club since signing from Brackley. He started at Corby and has played for Rothwell, Stamford and Grantham too.

Striker Billy Kee came from Accrington in September 2020, but started his career at Leicester City. After a loan at Accrington he joined Torquay, before moving to Burton, Scunthorpe and Mansfield. He then spent five years at Accrington before his Coalville move.

Having started out at Coalville, defender Kian Taylor was picked up by Leicester City, before spending three years with Shrewsbury Town. During this period he came on loan back to Coalville, with the move becoming permanent in August 2020.

Striker Ronnie Morley is a product of Coalville’s own youth programme and has also had a loan spell at Anstey Nomad’s. He made his league debut with two appearances last season.

Prince Ogunmekan is another midfielder signed from Loughborough University and is yet to make his first team debut.

Former St Etienne Junior centre back Herve pepe-Ngomi has just returned to the club, having left in September last year to join Barwell. He played junior football at Leicester City too and also played for Nuneaton, Boston Utd and Kettering.

Kick off as usual 7.45pm and it’s only about 20 miles down the road, so ALL the Red Army support will be more than welcome.

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