Cleethorpes Town (H) - Tuesday 17th September 2024

The Opposition - History
Cleethorpes Town are a relatively new team, formed as recently as 1998.
Progress through the leagues was swift during the 2010s, with promotion from the Lincolnshire League in 2012 followed by the NCEL Division One title in 2014 and finally the Premier Division in 2017 which brought them to the NPL where they have been ever since.
Also in there was a trip to Wembley for the FA Vase final in 2017, where they lost to South Shields.

The Opposition - This Season
The Owls started the season in sensational form, opening up with a 7-0 win at Kimberley Miners Welfare in the FA Cup before trouncing Brighouse Town 5-1 on NPL East matchday one.
They were held 1-1 at Stocksbridge before bouncing back to winning ways with a 4-0 home victory over Quorn in the FA Cup and further league wins over Carlton and Liversedge.
They subsequently drew 0-0 with Grimsby Borough before a run of three cup matches - Malvern Town were beaten in the FA Cup and Darlaston Town in the FA Trophy.
At the weekend a run of six cleansheets in a row was ended by a 94th minute penalty from Kettering Town which ended Cleethorpes' FA Cup campaign.

They currently sit 3rd: P 5 W 3 D 2 L 0 F 11 A 2 Pts. 11.

A journey of around 90 miles awaits them this evening.

Managers Tim Lowe and Liam Dickens took over in March 2023 and Adam Haw leads the scoring charts with six, backed up by Josh Walker and Nicky Walker who have five each. Will Annan has three and six players have a single goal each.

The Nailers
Belper enjoyed a great start to the campaign, with a 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 back to winning ways with an impressive 3-0 home victory against Bridlington Town before a Bank Holiday win at Sherwood Colliery.
Bromsgrove Sporting ended the FA Cup campaign in a replay and the last two fixtures have seen a 2-1 victory over Boldmere St. Michaels in the FA Trophy and Saturday's impressive win at North Ferriby.
Harry Draper leads the way with six goals while Nat Crofts has four. Jacob Gratton picked up three before his move to Worksop and five players have one goal each.
The Nailers sit top of the table: P 6 W 5 D 0 L 1 F 10 A 4 Pts. 15.

Head to Head
The Nailers and the Owls have met nine times.
The first three produced some crazy scorelines, with a 4-4 draw at Cleethorpes in October 2017 followed by the Nailers going down 0-7 at home in the reverse fixture.
The following season saw another heavy defeat for Belper, this time 1-5 away but they finally picked up their first (and to date only) victory in the fixture back at Belper in April 2019.
Cleethorpes have won the five fixtures since then including the double in last season's encounters and the overall record from a Belper perspective does not read well: P 9 W 1 D 1 L 7 F 8 A 29.
The return fixture from this evening is scheduled for Saturday, 19th April 2025.

Form Guide (all comps)
Belper Town: WWDLWW
Cleethorpes Town: WWDWWL

Team News
Ben Rhodes is close to match fitness and there are no suspensions.

Permutations
A win for Belper would retain top spot, with a two point advantage in place over Emley.
A draw would mean Emley would go top with a win at home to Brighouse.
Victory for Cleethorpes would put them top if Emley fail to win.

Match details
Belper Town vs. Cleethorpes Town
Northern Premier League Division One East
Tuesday, 17th September 2024 - 7:45pm kick off
Raygar Stadium
Bridge Street
Belper
Derbyshire
DE56 1AN
Tickets: Adults £11, Concessions (under 16 and 60+) £7, Under 11 (with paying adult) £0

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.

NPL East fixtures
Belper Town vs. Cleethorpes Town
Bishop Auckland vs. Pontefract Collieries
Dunston P-P Consett AFC
Emley AFC vs. Brighouse Town
Newton Aycliffe P-P Sherwood Colliery
Ossett United P-P North Ferriby