Dunston UTS (A) - Saturday 12th October 2024

The Opposition - History
The club first saw the light of day in 1975 as a humble works outfit when former Chairman, John Thompson, with some of his colleagues at HMSO on the Team Valley Trading Estate, decided to form a football team. The club joined the Newcastle City Amateur League playing at the Civil Service Sports Ground, Longbenton.
Early success inspired the club to progress and a piece of land was leased from Gateshead M.B.C. and the committee began to develop what is now the UTS Stadium.
The club were now gaining much success in the Northern Combination and with aspirations to progress further they approached the Federation Brewery to become the club’s main sponsor. With the Federation Brewery as their main sponsor the club joined the Wearside League in 1987 and after another period of success the club felt a need to seek new opportunities and an application was made to join the prestigious Northern League. The club had now realised one of its main ambitions and entered the National Pyramid of Non League Football.
In its second season in the Northern League the club won the Second Division and was promoted to the First Division.
Since joining the Northern League the club has won the Second Division, been First Division Champions twice, League Cup winners on five occasions and JR Cleator Cup winners on five occasions. Included in these successes were back to back First Division title winners and League Cup winners in seasons 2003/2004 and 2004/2005.
They joined the NPL North West in 2019 and moved across to the East in 2021, remaining there since, finishing 3rd last season and losing out in the playoffs.
(Source - Dunston UTS website)

The Opposition - This Season
The Fed have had a great start to the season.
Victory over Pontefract was followed by two 1-1 draws with Liversedge and then Whickham in the FA Cup, the replay of which they won comfortably.
This game was the start of a four game winning run as they went on to defeat Stocksbridge, Ashington and Birtley Town to extend the Cup run.
The FA Trophy run was ended at the first hurdle by Emley and then Scarborough Athletic knocked them out of the Cup in a replay.
A home reversal to North Ferriby on the 21st of September sparked a great response - comfortable wins over Cleethorpes and Sheffield ahead of today's encounter.

They currently sit 7th: P 7 W 5 D 1 L 1 F 15 A 6 Pts. 16.

A journey of around 156 miles awaits the Nailers today.

Manager Jon McDonald was appointed after the 2022/23 season, having originally joined the club as Assistant Manager in 2021.

Sado Djalo leads the goalscoring charts with seven while Dale Pearson has six. Michael Pearson and Scott Robson have three each, while three players have two goals and a couple of players are on one goal apiece.

The Nailers
Belper, like Dunston have had a very good start to the season.
Victories over Heaton Stannington and Bradford (Park Avenue) in the league were followed by an FA Cup win over Lutterworth but Emley inflicted a first defeat of the season on the 20th of August.
They responded with back to back wins before exiting the FA Cup at the hands of Bromsgrove Sporting.
A couple of wins followed but then a heavy defeat at home to Cleethorpes Town.
Since then however the Nailers have won four in a row and sit top of the form table - with Dunston in 2nd.
Harry Draper leads the way with nine goals. Nat Crofts has four and Jacob Gratton picked up three before his move to Worksop. Keaton August and Luke Rawson have two goals each while a further seven players are on one goal apiece.

Head to Head
The Nailers met Dunston Federation Brewery in the FA Vase in 1991. With the first tie at Belper abandoned at 1-1, the sides met again in the north east between Christmas and New Year, with the home side progressing 2-0.
The only meetings since then were last season. Early on in the campaign Belper took a 3-1 lead but an 88th minute penalty from top scorer Dale Pearson completed a comeback to give the visitors a 4-3 win.
In a game played at Brighouse later in the season, Dunston won 3-1 with Karl Demidh on the scoresheet for Belper.
Overall the record from a Belper perspective reads:
P 3 W 0 D 0 L 3 F 4 A 9 (1 abandoned).

Form Guide (all comps)
Dunston: LDLLWW
Belper Town: WLWWWW

Team News
Harry Draper has served his ban and is available for selection.

Permutations
Belper can only go top with a win coupled with defeat for Emley; they travel to Ossett.
The only team that can overtake us are North Ferriby, they are one point behind with an equal goal difference and are at home to Bishop Auckland.
Dunson sit 7th but this is a relatively false position with them having only played seven matches, two fewer than Belper.
A draw maybe enough to send them into the playoff positions but it is more likely a win will be required due to how tight things are; three teams are on 17 points and two on 16.
Two teams - Bradford PA and Carlton Town - are capable of catching them if they slip up and both are at home today.

Match details
Dunston UTS vs. Belper Town
Northern Premier League Division One East
Saturday, 12th October 2024 - 3:00pm kick off
UTS Stadium
Wellington Road
Dunston
Gateshead
NE11 9JL
Tickets: Adults £10, Concessions & Students £6, Under 16s £3

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
Ashington vs. Stocksbridge Park Steels
Bradford (Park Avenue) vs. Sheffield FC
Carlton Town vs. Consett
Cleethorpes Town vs. Heaton Stannington
Dunston vs. Belper Town
Garforth Town vs. Bridlington Town
Liversedge vs. Grimsby Borough
Newton Aycliffe vs. Brighouse Town
North Ferriby vs. Bishop Auckland
Ossett United vs. Emley AFC
Sherwood Colliery vs. Pontefract Collieries