The Opposition
Grimsby Borough are celebrating their 20th birthday this year, having been established in 2003,
They had originally joined the Central Midlands League as Grimsby Ross in 1987 but renamed to Borough two years later.
The following few seasons saw ups and downs, with a bottom of the table finish followed by a runners-up spot in the Lincolnshire League. They then left the league after a fourth placed finish in 1992.
The current Borough then came along and recent years have seen success in the NCEL, winning Division One in 2019 and then the Premier Division in 2022. The League Trophy was also secured in 2012.
Their first season at step 4 saw them finish comfortably mid-table in Division One East of the NPL.

They have found life tougher this time around, although the early part of the season saw two impressive FA Cup victories over Barton Town Old Boys and Melton Town.
In the League they picked up their first win on matchday 3 against Brighouse Town but following this they lost three successive NPL games and were dumped out of the FA Cup (Leek Town) and FA Trophy (Sporting Khalsa).
The response was a good one, leading to their best period of the season to date when they picked up successive victories against Stocksbridge, Ossett and Sheffield.
However since then they have found themselves on a poor run of form - seven successive defeats heading in to this Raygar Stadium encounter.

A journey of 86 miles awaits them today.

Former Boston manager Daniel Barrett has been in charge for several seasons.
The goalscoring charts are led by Reece York with 4. Several players have chipped in with 3.

After a tough first half of the season they sit bottom of the table.
Their record reads: P 16 W 4 D 1 L 11 F 19 A 29 Pts. 13
Seven of those points have been picked up away from home.
Despite all of this, eight teams have conceded more goals than them and their defence has only let in the same number of goals as the Nailers.

The Nailers
Belper got back to winning ways last weekend with victory at Winterton.
This was the first time they had collected three points since the 11th November, with a run of three defeats followed by the same number of postponements, and a narrow Derbyshire Senior Cup defeat at Mickleover.
Today marks the start of a run of fixtures which sees the Nailers face the bottom three in succession before a long trip to Dunston in the new year.
Ahead of this fixture, Belper sit in 4th place with the following record: P 17 W 10 D 1 L 6 F 37 A 29 Pts. 31.
Kevin Bastos remains clear as top goalscorer with 14, his closest challenger Cam Johnson having now left the club.
Phil Watt has 6 and Rev James, who has also moved on, scored 5.

Head to Head
The opening day fixture (12th August) at the Bradley Football Development Centre was a first meeting between the sides.
Belper won comfortably 3-0, with the goals coming from Cadman and a Bastos brace in front of a crowd of 165.

Form Guide (League)
Belper Town - (28 Oct) WWLLLW (16 Dec)
Grimsby Borough - (21 Oct) LLLLLL (16 Dec)

Team News
Phil Watt serves out the second and final match of his suspension.
Dan Moore continues to serve in goal in Jay Alexander's absence.

Permutations
The Nailers could potentially climb a place to 3rd but it would require a heavy victory as well as defeat for Consett at home to Winterton.
A draw or defeat leaves the door open for Carlton or Pontefract to leapfrog us in the table, but not both as they meet at the Bill Stokeld Stadium which is a good fixture for Belper.
North Ferriby face a tough trip to Newton Aycliffe but victory would take them above Belper if we are defeated.
For Grimsby Borough, only victory will be enough to lift them off the foot of the table, they are only a point behind Grantham but have an inferior goal difference of 7.

Match details
Belper Town vs. Grimsby Borough
Northern Premier League Division One - East Division
Saturday, 23rd December 2023 – 3:00pm kick off
Raygar Stadium
Bridge Street
Belper
Derbyshire
DE56 1BA
Tickets: Adults £11, Concessions £7, U11s with paying adult £Free

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.

Elsewhere in Division One East

It's a Stock derby at Bracken Moor as the Steels face a tough encounter against league leaders Stockton.

Game of the day is probably at Carlton where Pontefract are the visitors - both teams are breathing down Belper's neck in and around the playoff places.

Friday 7.45pm
(14th) Ossett United vs. Sheffield (15th)

Saturday 3.00pm
(10th) Bridlington Town vs. Dunston (8th)
(16th) Brighouse Town vs. Ashington AFC (13th)
(6th) Carlton Town vs. Pontefract Collieries (5th)
(12th) Cleethorpes Town vs. Liversedge (11th)
(3rd) Consett AFC vs. Winterton Rangers (18th)
(2nd) Hebburn Town vs. Grantham Town (19th)
(9th) Newton Aycliffe vs. North Ferriby (7th)
(17th) Stocksbridge Park Steels vs. Stockton Town (1st)