After 46 games in all competitions, the curtain will finally come down on our 2025/26 season at Leicester Nirvana this Saturday afternoon, and what a season it has been! Since kicking off the campaign at Bugbrooke St Michaels last July, we have so far won 21, lost 14 and drawn 10 in a helter-skelter of a season, lit up by a change of management team, a prolonged challenge for promotion and a brief encounter with a teenage prodigy.
It is only fitting that our season should come to a close in Leicester, the city in which we gained two of our biggest away wins of the season (4-1 at Aylestone Park and 5-0 at Oadby Town). But if we are to make it a hat-trick of wins in Gary Lineker’s home city, we will need to overturn a sequence of results that has seen all previous games between Nirvana and ourselves end in a home win. Key to us ending the campaign with a win will be Connor Barnes, who scored both our goals when we beat Nirvana 2-1 at Bridge Road in August of this year. The goal-meister is currently on a rare five-game baron run, but if on Saturday he can add to the 26 he has already scored for us this season it will only add to his growing reputation as one of the best strikers in the UCL after an outstanding 2025/26 campaign.
Neither side has anything of significance to play for on Saturday. Nirvana have been a mid-table side at best all season while our only hope of making the play-offs is if one of the top five are found by the FA to have committed a crime so heinous that they are given a sizeable points deduction (perhaps any disillusioned Leicester City fans at the game can tell us what that feels like). But the game is a chance to end what has been an enthralling season on a high and lay some foundation for next year. The latest team news is that Max York will miss out due to a knee injury and that Luke Crisp remains a doubt, but with us conceding just one goal in the last three games, we have already seen that the squad is deep enough to cover their absence. Matt and Mark shuffled the pack a little against Atherstone Town last weekend with the young brigade showing they have what it takes to light up any game they play in. Deacon Pattison, Luke Kenny, David Starling and the returning Mar-lee Fisher could all get another run-out. Expect a surprise or two in Saturday’s lineup.
Nirvana’s compact Hamilton Park ground is on the north-eastern edge of Leicester, so the recommended route to the ground is via the A1 and the A47. It is a 71-mile journey from Bridge Road but there should be no trouble parking on arrival. The postcode for your SatNav is LE5 1LU.
Leicester Nirvana were crowned the FA Club of the Year for 2025, a prestigious honour that recognises the club’s outstanding contribution to football in the local community. But despite this impressive achievement, they are the second worst supported club in the UCL Premier South according to the FWP website. Our fixture against them in 2024 was switched to Kirby Muxloe FC’s home ground and attracted just 32 fans. This figure soared to 41 last season, but given the size of the Histon away following, we can expect to be in the majority on Saturday. If you are travelling, keep in mind that the home side wear red and black stripes, so it might be worth swopping your usual Histon scarf and hat for something that matches our rather fine blue and black away kit.
Whatever the result on Saturday, it will be a celebration of an outstanding season and a last chance to show your appreciation to M&M and the players for their hard work, dedication and loyalty to the club.
Don’t forget that on Sunday our league championship-winning Ladies side take on Newmarket Town Ladies at Bridge Road with a 2pm kick-off. Your support would be greatly appreciated.
