The Opposition - History
North Ferriby FC were formed in 2019 after the demise of North Ferriby United, who themselves were formed in 1934 and reached as high as the National League before facing Liquidation following which the phoenix club started up.
The new team started out in the Northern Counties East League and gained promotion to the Premier Division in their first completed season, the first two having been abandoned because of Covid.
The 2022/23 season saw them finish top of the Premier Division to get back to the Northern Premier League, where the former team had been at the stage of its demise and last season they finished 8th.

Manager Chris Bolder took over in May 2019 having previously been in charge two years earlier.

A journey of around 80 miles awaits them today.

The Opposition - This Season
The Villagers had a mixed start to the season, losing their opening game but bouncing back to comfortably defeat Sherwood Colliery.
They exited the FA Cup in a replay against Newcastle Blue Star but then picked up five successive away wins in the league.
October saw back to back defeats but then three wins in a row before a loss at Liversedge.
Recent weeks have seen a home win over Garforth Town, a draw with Pontefract Collieries and last weekend they lost a thriller at home to Newton Aycliffe 3-2 despite a late flourish.

	NPL	Cups
Played	19	3
Won	10	0
Drawn	3	1
Lost	6	2
Scored	31	3
Conceded	24	6
Top scorers	Josh Whiteley 12
	Mason Johnson 5
	Lewis Dennison 3
	Jack Walters 3
Most appearances	Niall Tilsley 22
	Jack Walters 22
	Ben Bottomley 21
	Levi Tarbotton 21
Biggest victory	3-0 vs. Bridlington Town
Heaviest defeat	0-4 vs. Stocksbridge Park Steels
Highest scoring	3-3 vs. Consett
Highest home attendance	617 vs. Pontefract Collieries
Lowest home attendance	308 vs. Garforth Town
Average home attendance	408 (6th)
Most consecutive wins	3
Most consecutive defeats	2

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
Last season's meetings were the first between Belper and the current North Ferriby FC. The Nailers won both, 4-0 at Ferriby at the start of the season before securing a 2-1 win back at the Raygar Stadium in January.
Earlier this season, the Nailers were impressive in a 2-0 away win.
There were 33 meetings with North Ferriby United, with Belper coming out on top on just five occasions.
They failed to win any of the first 16 encounters before going on an unbeaten run of ten. They were however without a victory in the last nine, with the last match between the sides in January 2005.

Form Guide (all comps)
Belper Town: WWWWLD
North Ferriby: WWLWDL

Team News
There are no major injury concerns or suspensions.

Permutations
The Nailers cannot go top without a miracle 16 goal swing but if they win and Emley don't, they will move to 2nd.
With a four point gap to Dunston they cannot be caught from behind today.
North Ferriby need a win to have any chance of getting into the playoff spots but the worst they can finish the day is one place lower in 8th if their result is bettered by Bradford (Park Avenue).

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

Saturday, 7th December 2024 - 3:00pm kick off

Raygar Stadium
Bridge Street
Belper
Derbyshire
DE56 1BA

Admission prices: Adults £11, Concessions (under 16 and 60+) £7, Under 11 (with paying adult) £0
Cash and card accepted on the turnstiles.

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 two games on Friday evening but they don't affect Belper or North Ferriby.
Saturday's game of the day is between the Raygar Stadium fixture and that at Newton Aycliffe where Cleethorpes are the visitors.
There's a huge game at the bottom as Sherwood Colliery entertain Ossett United.

Friday
(15th) Consett AFC vs. Pontefract Collieries (12th)
(10th) Garforth Town vs. Sheffield (22nd)

Saturday
(3rd) Belper Town vs. North Ferriby (7th)
(16th) Bridlington Town vs. Bishop Auckland (9th)
(13th) Carlton Town vs. Bradford (Park Avenue) (8th)
(4th) Dunston vs. Brighouse Town (18th)
(2nd) Emley AFC vs. Liversedge (14th)
(11th) Grimsby Borough vs. Ashington AFC (20th)
(17th) Heaton Stannington vs. Stocksbridge Park Steels (6th)
(5th) Newton Aycliffe vs. Cleethorpes Town (1st)
(19th) Sherwood Colliery vs. Ossett United (21st)