With the 2020-2021 curtailed early due to the pandemic, and with next season still a few months away, Ollerton Town return to some form of competitive football this week as the Staton Mortgages Invitational Cup gets underway.

Organised by Sherwood Colliery, the tournament also involves Pinxton and Selston with Ollerton starting the tournament with a home game against Pinxton on Wednesday 19th May.

The tournament takes the form of a mini-league, with each team playing each other home and away. All of Selston's home games will be played at Pinxton. After the end of the league, the top two teams will proceed into the final which will be played at Sherwood's Debdale Park.

Pinxton were second in the Central Midlands South Division when the season came to an end, though they did have two games in hand on Blidworth Welfare which would have given them the chance to close the gap to just three points.

It had been a difficult season for Selston who sat bottom of the Midland Football League Premier Division with just one point from their opening ten games. They have survived to fight another day due to the season curtailment and will prove a tough test, as they were last summer when we played them in a pre-season friendly, edging it 3-2.

There is a sense of "what might have been" when looking at our games against Sherwood Colliery. As the East Midlands Counties League ended, "The Wood" had nine wins from nine and were breathing down our necks as we sat top of the table. If we had got to play them, the two league fixtures between the sides would have no doubt been exciting, hugely important games in potentially deciding promotion. It is still a local derby though and we're sure both games in this Invitational Cup will be very entertaining affairs.

It is excellent news that spectators will be allowed in to grounds to watch the tournament after the country progressed to the next stage of the road map out of lockdown. Football without fans is nothing, as some of the friendlies we have played over the last few weeks has highlighted.

The tournament will also be the first chance our fans have to see our progress under new manager Stephen Bodle. Though he's someone who is part of the furniture at the club, Bodle will be looking to make a strong start to life in the hot seat and stamp his mark on the team early doors.

There may also be one or two new faces for our fans to cast their eye on, the likes of Luis Rose only playing for us behind-closed-doors up to now. There has also been some departures since our last game with James Matthews departing for Carlton Town and Aaron Hewitt leaving for Sherwood.

The full list of our fixtures can be seen below:
Wednesday 19th May: Ollerton Town v Pinxton
Saturday 22nd May: Sherwood Colliery v Ollerton Town
Wednesday 26th May: Ollerton Town v Selston
Friday 28th May: Pinxton v Ollerton Town
Wednesday 2nd May: Ollerton Town v Sherwood Colliery
Saturday 5th May: Selston v Ollerton Town

If you cannot make any of the games, we shall be providing our usual coverage of in-game Twitter updates and post-game report as well as match photos and highlights.