The Opposition - History
The club was established in 1964 as Miners Arms, a Sunday league team based at the pub from which they took their name. They joined the Elmet Sunday League, where they played until joining the Leeds Sunday Combination in 1972. In 1976 the club switched to Saturday football, joining the West Yorkshire League. They applied to join the Yorkshire League for the following season, and after being advised that pub teams were not allowed in the league, adopted the name Garforth Miners.

In 1978 Garforth were elected to Division Three of the Yorkshire League. They finished second-from-bottom of the table in their first season, but were Division Three runners-up in 1979–80, earning promotion to Division Two. When the league merged with the Midland League in 1982 to form the Northern Counties East League, the club were placed in Division One North. In 1985 they were renamed again, becoming Garforth Town. League reorganisation saw them placed in Division Two in 1985 and they went on to finish as runners-up, earning promotion to Division One. Although they were Division One runners-up in 1996–97, also winning the League Trophy, the club were not promoted to the Premier Division. However, they were Division One champions the following season, and were promoted. They also won the West Riding County Cup for the first time with a 1–0 win over Liversedge in the final. In 1999–2000 they both won the League Cup (beating Glapwell 3–1 in the final) and the West Riding County Cup (winning 2–0 against Eccleshill United in the final).

Garforth finished bottom of the Premier Division in 2001–02, but avoided relegation after Denaby United folded. However, the following season saw them finish bottom again, and they were relegated to Division One. In 2003 the club were taken over by Simon Clifford, who stated that his ambition was to take the club into the Football League. He took over as manager early in the 2004–05 season and made several high-profile signings, including Brazilian Sócrates (who made one appearance as a substitute) and Lee Sharpe. They finished as Division One runners-up, earning promotion back to the Premier Division. Another Brazilian, Careca, played for the club in a friendly that summer. In 2006–07 a fourth-place finish was enough to earn promotion to Division One North of the Northern Premier League.

In 2008–09 Garforth won the West Riding County Cup for a third time, beating Bradford Park Avenue in the final. They retained the cup the following season, defeating Barnoldswick Town in the final. In 2011–12 they finished fifth, qualifying for the promotion play-offs, but lost 4–1 on penalties to Curzon Ashton in the semi-finals after a 2–2 draw. They were bought by former Southampton chairman Rupert Lowe in December 2012, but the 2012–13 season saw the club finish bottom of Division One North, resulting in relegation back to the Northern Counties East League. Lowe left the club in 2015.

In 2023–24 Garforth finished third in the Premier Division. In the subsequent play-offs they defeated Rossington Main on penalties in the semi-final and then beat Albion Sports on penalties in the final, earning promotion to Division One East of the Northern Premier League.
(Source - Wikipedia)

Manager Paul Marshall took over in October 2019.

A journey of around 68 miles awaits the Nailers this evening.

The Opposition - This Season
The Miners started the season with three clean sheets, defeating Northallerton Town in the Cup and Liversedge in the league before an NPL draw with Consett.
In fact they didn't suffer defeat until the last day of August, losing to Bury in the FA Cup in front of 1,186 fans.
This triggered a mini slump as they went on to lose five of their next six matches before bouncing back to beat Ossett United and Grimsby Borough.
November saw defeats at Cleethorpes and North Ferriby sandwiching wins over Heaton Stannington and Emley.
More recently there has been a 1-0 win over Sherwood Colliery back at the Bannister Prentice Stadium after five successive away matches and the weekend saw them comfortably dispatch Sheffield 4-0, a fine way to bounce back from defeat at home to Dunston.
They currently sit 9th: P 19 W 9 D 3 L 7 F 29 A 24 Pts 30.

The Nailers
Belper started the season well, losing only one of their first seven in all competitions and have been on some decent winning runs to maintain their position near the top of the table.
The FA Trophy exit in October came in the middle of a five match winning streak in the league which ended with last weekend's disappointing performance at Stocksbridge.
Tuesday night saw progression in the Derbyshire Senior Cup, with a penalty shootout victory over Glossop North End.
Harry Draper remains well clear as leading goalscorer with 18 in all competitions. Curtis Burrows and Nathaniel Crofts have five each and Luke Rawson is on four.

Head to Head
The sides have met just once before, an FA Trophy match in 2008.
Garforth won 2-0 in front of 143 spectators in West Yorkshire.
Record for Belper: P 1 W 0 D 0 L 1 F 0 A 2.

The return fixture from tonight is scheduled for Saturday, 1st March 2025.

Form Guide (all comps)
Garforth Town: WWLWLW
Belper Town: WWWWLD

Team News
There are no major injury concerns or suspensions.

Permutations
Belper will move up to 2nd with a win but cannot go top without a miracle 16 goal swing.
With no other matches in the division until Friday and a four point gap to Dunston, 3rd is secure for at least another week.
Garforth could move up to 7th if they win by three or more goals. A 2-0 win would put them level with North Ferriby on points, goal difference and goals scored but Ferriby would stay ahead by virtue of the head to head record.

Match details
Garforth Town vs. Belper Town
Northern Premier League Division One East

Tuesday, 10th December 2024 - 7:45pm kick off

Bannister Prentice Stadium
Cedar Ridge
Garforth
Leeds
LS25 2PF

Admission prices: Adults £9, Seniors/Students £6, Under 16s £3, Under 5s £0

Follow the match
Full coverage of the match:

• Audio commentary with Tom on Radio Belper Town
• Full text coverage on X, Facebook and Bluesky
• Match reports on the website (all matches) and in the Non-League Paper (Saturday matches only)

NPL East fixtures
There are no other fixtures in the East Division tonight, the next action being two matches on Friday evening including the top of the table clash between Cleethorpes and Emley.