Nicholls was born in Southampton and joined the Southampton St. Mary's in 1888, aged 16.[1] At first, his appearances were restricted to friendly matches and he was not selected for the club's successes in the Hampshire Junior Cup. From the autumn of 1890 onwards, he became a regular member of the team, scoring hat-tricks in friendlies against Winchester City and the Royal Engineers.[2]
On 24 January 1891, he played at outside-left in the second round of the Hampshire Senior Cup, scoring in a 5–0 victory over Geneva Cross, a team based at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley. Nicholls followed this up with a goal in the semi-final (against Banister Court School) setting up the final against the holders, a team from the Royal Engineers from Aldershot. Nicholls opened the scoring in the 20th minute with "a stinging shot no goalkeeper could have saved" before the engineers equalised. Two second-half goals, from Frank Bromley and Bob Kiddle, saw St. Mary's claim the senior cup for the first time.[3]
The success in local cup competitions prompted the club committee to enter a national tournament for the first time[4] – in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup on 3 October 1891, they played at Warmley near Bristol, winning comfortably 4–1 with Nicholls, who was playing at centre-forward, scoring the opening goal after 15 minutes, followed by a second late on in the match. In the next round, St. Mary's defeated Reading 7–0, with Nicholls scoring one of the goals, but the match was awarded to Reading following an FA enquiry into the eligibility of two St. Mary's players, Jock Fleming and Alexander McMillan.[5] In March 1892, St. Mary's retained the Hampshire Senior Cup, with an easy 5–0 victory over a Medical Staff team, with Nicholls scoring twice.[6]
In 1892–93, Nicholls played the second qualifying round of the FA Cup, with the Saints going out 4–0 to Maidenhead and in all three Hampshire Senior Cup matches, losing 1–2 to Freemantle in the final.[6] In the following year, he played in both FA Cup matches, with St. Mary's going out to Reading in the second qualifying round. In the Hampshire Senior Cup, he missed the semi-final against Freemantle but did play in the final which was lost 1–0 to the Royal Engineers.[7]
In 1894, St. Mary's were founder members of the Southern League. Not wanting to commit to regular league football, Nicholls decided to retire from the club, having scored over 40 goals in all fixtures for the club, with four goals from his five F.A. Cup appearances.[1]