Boldmere St. Michaels (H) – Saturday 7th September 2024

The Opposition - History
The club was established in 1883 as a youth football team attached to the local church.

After playing friendly matches against other church teams for the next 29 years, they joined a league for the first time in 1912. The club subsequently progressed through several leagues before joining the Birmingham AFA League.

They won the league's Senior Cup in 1928–29 and the Junior Cup in 1933–34 and in 1937 joined the Central Amateur League, and were runners-up in 1938–39 before winning the league in 1946–47.

In 1947–48 Boldmere reached the semi-finals of the FA Amateur Cup, eventually losing 2–0 to Barnet in front of 26,000 spectators at Highbury. They were also Central Amateur League runners-up and reached the final of the AFA Senior Cup, drawing the final with Cambridge Town 2–2, with the clubs jointly awarded the trophy.

They subsequently hosted the Indian Olympic team in a friendly match following the 1948 Summer Olympics, losing by a single goal.

The following season saw Boldmere win the Central Amateur League, after which they joined the Birmingham & District League. Deciding to remain amateur in a largely semi-professional league, the club's performances began to decline and they finished second-from-bottom of the league in 1952–53 and 1953–54.

When the Birmingham & District League merged with the Birmingham Combination in 1954, Boldmere were placed in the South Division for a transitional season, in which they finished bottom of the table. As a result, the club became members of Division Two the following season. The league was subsequently reduced to a single division in 1960 and renamed the West Midlands (Regional) League in 1962.

In 1963 the club dropped into Division One of the Worcestershire Combination.

The league was renamed the Midland Combination in 1968 and the club were Challenge Cup winners in 1977–78 before winning the league's Tony Allden Cup in 1978–79.

Division One became the Premier Division in 1983 and the club were league champions in 1985–86, and after finishing as runners-up in 1987–88, they won a second league title in 1988–89. The 1989–90 saw them win the treble of the league, the League Cup and the Tony Allden Cup.
They went on to retain both cups the following season, and won the Tony Allden Cup again in 1991–92.

In 1994 Boldmere were founder members of the Midland Alliance, and were league runners-up in 2013–14, the league's final season. When it merged with the Midland Combination to form the Midland League, the club became members of the Premier Division.

They were runners-up in the Premier Division in 2021–22, earning promotion to Division One Midlands of the Northern Premier League.

The Opposition - This Season
The Mikes started with a draw at Hanley Town in the FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round before going down 4-2 on penalties in the replay back at the Boldmere Community Stadium.
They started the league campaign with back to back wins against Racing Club Warwick and Lye Town but suffered defeat at the hands of Corby Town.
Their last two matches, against Darlaston Town and Bedworth United have both finished 1-1.
They currently sit 6th in the NPL Division One Midlands: P 5 W 2 D 2 L 1 F 9 A 9 Pts. 8.

A journey of around 41 miles awaits them today.

Manager Neil Kitching took over in September 2019 having previously played for the club.

So far this season Liam Murphy leads the way with four goals, while Jake Collins has three. Sean Devlin, Daniel Gyasi and Oliver West have one each.

The Nailers
Belper enjoyed a great start to the campaign, with victory at Heaton Stannington followed by a home win against Bradford (Park Avenue) and then Lutterworth Town in the FA Cup.
There was a setback at Emley where mix-ups at the back meant a 1-0 lead was a 2-1 deficit by half-time and the hosts secured the points in injury time.
It was straight back to winning ways with an impressive 3-0 home victory against Bridlington Town being followed up by a 1-0 win on the road at Sherwood Colliery on Bank Holiday Monday.
Last weekend saw a late equaliser from Bromsgrove Sporting deny Belper, helped by a Harry Draper brace, victory in the FA Cup and force a replay.
On Tuesday evening in Worcestershire the Nailers went down 2-1 after extra time.
Draper leads the way with five goals while Jacob Gratton has three and Nat Crofts two. Keaton August, Lewis Austin, Ben Rhodes and Luke Rawson have each notched one goal.
The Nailers sit top of the table: P 5 W 4 D 0 L 1 F 8 A 4 Pts. 12.

Head to Head
The sides have met just once before, in November 1996 when they were drawn to play each other in the FA Vase.
The Mikes were 3-1 winners in Boldmere, with Richard Cope on the scoresheet for Belper.
This remains the last of 45 fixtures Belper played in the competition before becoming eligible for the FA Trophy.

Form Guide (all comps)
Belper Town: WLWWDL
Boldmere St. Michaels: DWWLDD

Team News
Ben Rhodes remains an injury doubt.

Permutations
The winners of the tie will progress to the Second Qualifying Round.
Should the scores be level after 90 minutes the tie will go straight to penalties.

Match details
Belper Town vs. Boldmere St. Michaels
FA Trophy First Qualifying Round
Saturday, 7th September 2024 - 3:00pm kick off
Raygar Stadium
Bridge Street
Belper
Derbyshire
DE56 1BA
Tickets: Adults £11, Concessions £7, Under 11 (accompanied by paying adult) £0
*All-pay fixture (season tickets not valid)*

Follow the match
Live commentary is available with Tom on Radio Belper Town - https://radiobelpertown.mixlr.com
Full coverage on X (Twitter). Team news, HT & FT scores on Facebook.
Match reports to follow on the website and in the Non-League Paper.

FA Trophy fixtures involving NPL East teams
Bedworth United vs. Sherwood Colliery
Belper Town vs. Boldmere St. Michaels
Bishop Auckland vs. Nantwich Town
Bridlington Town vs. Trafford
Brighouse Town vs. Clitheroe
Consett vs. Atherton Collieries
Darlaston Town vs. Cleethorpes Town
Emley vs. Dunston
Garforth Town vs. Wythenshawe Town
Grimsby Borough vs. Chasetown
Heaton Stannington vs. North Ferriby
Liversedge vs. Avro
Rugby Town vs. Carlton Town
Runcorn Linnets vs. Pontefract Collieries
Sheffield FC vs. Loughborough Students
Stalybridge Celtic vs. Ossett United
Stocksbridge Park Steels vs. Widnes
Vauxhall Motors vs. Newton Aycliffe
Witton Albion vs. Bradford (Park Avenue)