Match Preview

The Fenmen return to league action on Saturday with a trip to Leicestershire to take on Loughborough Students.
Loughborough, nicknamed the Scholars, are mid-table in the league having collected 17 points from 13 games, and they reached the next round of the FA Vase last Saturday with a 2-1 win at Gedling MW.
For much of last season the students, who play at the impressive Loughborough University Stadium, were favourites to win the league. They were were unbeaten for months, including a 5-0 win over Wisbech. But The Fenmen gained revenge in the return, beating Loughborough 2-0 at home in March with goals from Arun Jones and Amir Ward. The Scholars slipped from the top and ended the season in third position.
The students’ most notable name is head coach Jamie Clapham, who played more than 500 games in the Premiership and Football League for Tottenham, Ipswich Town and Birmingham City in a career which stretched from 1994 to 2011. He was appointed head coach in 2021.

Recent History
The club, founded in 1920 under the name Loughborough College, left senior football in 1972 and did not return until 2007, when they were promoted to the Midland Combination Premier Division. In 2008/09 they were champions and promoted to the Midland Alliance. The Scholars ground-shared at Loughborough Dynamo until moving into the new Loughborough University Stadium.
In 2011 the club beat Boldmere St Michaels to lift the League Cup and retained the cup the following year with a win over Tipton Town.
With the reorganisation of the Step 5 leagues in 2019, Loughborough Students were moved in to the United Counties League. They reached the final of the Leicestershire and Rutland FA Senior Cup but lost out to Step 3 side Coalville Town.
In 2021 former Leeds, Middlesbrough, Hull and Barnsley assistant manager Jamie Clapham was appointed full-time head coach, replacing Alex Ackerley who joined Sunderland AFC to coach in their Academy set-up.
The 2021/22 season brought great success when they were crowned university national champions for the first time in nine years and were semi-finalists in the FA Vase, losing away to Littlehampton Town, their best ever performance in the Vase.