Tuesday (15 April) night will see Central Midlands Alliance League pair, Linby Colliery Welfare and Blidworth Welfare, do battle at Sherwood Colliery’s Debdale Park, in the final of Nottinghamshire FA Senior Trophy.

Each side has endured battles en-route to this seasons’ final, with Linby having overcome Arnold Town Reserves, AC United, Collingham, Woodthorpe Park Rangers, and Notts Senior League runners-up, Cotgrave, the latter, in the semi-finals, following a 2-2 draw, before winning on penalties.

Fronted by Jonathan Wass, and his assistants Dave Plant and Phil Barnes, Linby’s season has been an enjoyable one on the main, an unbeaten home run that was only ended in mid-March, pushing for runners-up spot in Central Midlands South (currently joint-second with Melbourne Dynamo), and reaching the NFA Trophy final.

Speaking to assistant manager, Dave Plant, he said: “My stepson has played for the club, in the youth and reserves teams.

“Ourselves (Wass, Plant and Barnes) have been here just this season, and it’s been a fairly successful one, especially playing with a young squad.

“It’s all coming good at the right time for us and we both expected, and didn’t expect this kind of season – Jonathan (Wass) has coached some of them at youth level.”

Beginning the season with six straight wins, Linby fans have seen goals aplenty throughout, in both league and cup; recent form for them has seen just one defeat in their last fourteen outings – the home record falling when dropping to visiting Graham Street Prims.

In fact, overall, Linby have lost just once in their last eighteen outings in all competitions, a run that dates back to mid-November, but the title, thanks to the run of leaders South Normanton Athletic which sees them eleven clear of the rest.

“Realistically, first place has gone for us,” admitted Linby’s assistant boss.

“We’ll keep going though until it’s mathematically not possible; our squad has been relatively free from injuries and work commitments though and, yes the expectation of promotion would have been nice, what we have achieved is really good.”

Away from the league, Linby’s run to the final of this season’s NFA Trophy has seen them overcome five opponents, beginning with a 3-0 win at home to Arnold Reserves back in early October.

Back then, Liam Cartledge would fire a hat-trick, the first goals of his scoring in every round which has seen him net eight times; Cartledge also scored both goals as Collingham were beaten 2-0 in December before home wins over Woodthorpe and Cotgrave.

The semi-final for Linby would see Cartledge, and Josh Wass, net in a 2-2 draw with the NSL runners-up, the CMA side emerging victorious in a tight shoot-out.

“The cup run hasn’t been a distraction for us,” explained Plant.

“Every game over the past few months have been cup finals and that’s stood us in good stead whilst attempting to close the gap as well.

“All rounds aren’t easy and it’s about what happens on the day.

“The games we’ve played have been fairly even and the semi-final was your typical contest.

“It wasn’t as either side wanted, and we just needed to dig in and create chances in what was an edgy affair.”

With the Trophy final to play, Linby will follow that up with four league games to close out the season, with the last three against South Normanton, and back-to-back against Melbourne Dynamo in what promises to be a fiery finale.

As for the Trophy final, Linby’s assistant finished by saying: “It’s all about the momentum.

“But it’s also about protecting the players in the run-up to it.

“We do expect the final to be pretty even, but we need to play how we know we can, and focus on what we know we’re about.”

Now, it’s time for the final, Linby Colliery Welfare opposing Blidworth Welfare for the Nottinghamshire FA Senior Trophy; the final will be at Debdale Park, home of Sherwood Colliery, 15 April 2025, KO 19:45.

Keep up-to-date with all things Linby Colliery Welfare via their Facebook  X/Twitter and website.

*Article provided by Peter Mann (Senior Correspondent).

*Main image @FCLinby the Colls team has performed well in league and cup this season.