Rainworth MWFC

The new ‘man at the top’ at Kirklington Road is Mansfield businessman Mr Kim Wright, who has filled the breach left by Derek Blow’s departure from the club in May.
Mr Wright, who owns Mansfield Sprinkler Services Ltd, is the son of legendary Rainworth supreme from the 1980s, Alan Wright, who served the club in just about every capacity except chairman those days and was its guiding hand for many years until his sudden death in 2002.
So the new chairman takes over with love of the club already instilled, and enhanced by the days when he played for them during the post-Wembley era.
A man who tends to shun the limelight, he has worked behind the scenes for the club for a number of years, without ever even accepting a place on the committee, but has been persuaded to take over the role in which secretary Les Lee has acted since Mr Blow’s departure.
However, on accepting the position, he missed the first two games of his chairmanship through holiday.
Those two matches saw the Wrens make FA Cup progress against Sleaford Town on Saturday, before trouncing Mr Blow’s new club, Hucknall Town, 4-1 on Monday.
They were two results which delighted Wrens boss Kevin Gee, who said: “Saturday was just a case of getting a job done against a lower division side on an awful pitch where you couldn’t pass the ball or run on it, but at the end of the day we did a professional job.
“And the second half performance of our strikers against Hucknall was magnificent. Up to half time we were too predictable in terms of creativity, although Ewan Clarke scored a brilliant goal. In the second half it could have been half a dozen or more with our movement and our work ethic.
“As far as our supporters were concerned there may have been side issues after what happened in the close season, but that’s water under the bridge and what is more important was that we have convincingly beaten a good footballing side who over the past 20 years have been a higher grade club than us, which shows the progress we have made.
“We have a good group of honest players who work hard for each other, and their discipline and organisation are what have made the difference between now and when I came to the club in November.
“There’s very much of a feel good factor about the place, which has only been heightened with Kim’s appointment as chairman.”
On Saturday Rainworth return to the scene of their best result last season, Coalville Town, where they won 5-1 last term.
But Gee insisted: “That was then. Now I know them to be a very good side. I’ve had lots of reports on them and the word is that they will be there or thereabouts this time.
“But we go into it on a high ourselves, and if we can still keep chalking up positive results from good performances maybe we will see a few more local people coming through our gates to support us instead of leaving the village for their football ‘fix’
“Ironically the only time we have lost this season was in our only away game so far, at Mickleover, but that was when we turned in our best performance, so we’ll see.”