Heanor Town saw out 2011 with another excellent home win over Gedling Miners Welfare and their second East Midlands Counties League double of the season.

In addition to that they will be delighted to have conceded just one goal in their last four league games and go into the New Year, at the time of writing, with a seven point lead at the top of the table.

The current season has been well documented so far, but statistics which readers might find of more interest relate to the team’s performances during the whole of the year 2011.

The year saw Heanor Town play 44 East Midlands Counties League games (including the void game against Hinckley FC). 23 of the games were at home and 21 away.

An analysis of the home games makes fantastic reading. Pl 23 W17 D4 L2. A total of 71 goals were scored in these games representing an average of more than three a game. Just 23 conceded. And in Town Ground cup ties, of which there were four, a further 13 goals were scored and four conceded in winning three of the games and losing just to Dunkirk in the FA Vase.

Heanor’s 21 away games in 2011 saw the club have an equally impressive record. They won 13, drew 3 and lost just 5, scoring 52 goals and conceding 22.

As at home, the Lions played four cup ties and here is the only blot on an exceeding good record. They won only one of the three but still scored seven goals in the process.

Overall then the Lions played 52 games in 2011, winning 34, drawing 7 and losing 11. Incredibly they scored a mammoth 143 goals and conceded just 59.

You would certainly not call the opposition poor in the East Midlands Counties League but to score 122 goals in 44 games is entertainment which speaks for itself and smacks superbly of the pedigree which joint managers Glenn Kirkwood and Craig Hopkins have brought to the club.

For years Heanor supporters have been looking for continuity of playing staff instead of starting every new season with eleven new faces. For the last three seasons this has been achieved under the current management with the result that support has increased, but perhaps not as much as many would have liked.

However, glance down the attendances of some of the Step 4 clubs, particularly those in the South of England and the Heanor average of over 100 for each home game is considerably more than their counterparts who can call on far greater populations for their support.

It would be nice to see support increase from the Heanor area and the club are currently working on this from a number of different angles which will, hopefully, become evident early in the New Year.