The Opposition - History
In 1855, members of a Sheffield cricket club organised informal kick-abouts without any official rules. Subsequently two members, Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest, formed the Sheffield Football Club.

The inaugural meeting of the club took place on 24 October 1857 at Parkfield House in the suburb of Highfield. The original headquarters was a greenhouse on East Bank Road lent by Thomas Asline Ward, father of the first club president Frederick Ward, and the adjacent field was used as their first playing ground. Initially, Sheffield FC games were played among club members themselves and took the format of "Married v Singles" or "Professionals v the Rest".

They became members of The Football Association on 30 November 1863 but continued to use their own set of rules. On 2 January 1865, the club played its first fixture outside Sheffield against Notts County, then known as Nottingham Football Club, at the Meadows Cricket Ground; the match was played eighteen-a-side under "Nottingham Rules". Sheffield won by a goal to nil.

They joined their first league competition in 1889 when entering the Midland League, but left after just one season when they finished bottom of the table. They were also founder members of the original Yorkshire League in 1898, but again they spent just a single season in the competition.

After the turn of the century, Sheffield competed mainly in local leagues. By 1925–26 they were competing in the Sheffield Association League.

Fifty years after leaving the competition, the club rejoined the Yorkshire League, in 1949. Three years later they won promotion to Division One, but were relegated back to Division Two in 1954. They returned to the top flight at the first time of asking before entering their centenary year in 1957. Celebrations included games against the England B team at Hillsborough and fellow amateur side Queen's Park F.C. at Bramall Lane.

In 1961, Sheffield was relegated to Division Two again, only returning to the top flight again in 1967, and then only for one more season before another relegation. Three years later, in 1970, they were relegated again, to the newly formed Division Three. Club would spend six seasons in the Yorkshire League's basement division, finishing as low as 10th in 1974. They finally started to turn their fortunes around in 1976 by returning to Division Two, and a year later they were crowned as Division Two champions to return to Division One. In the same season, Sheffield reached the final of the newly formed FA Vase. At Wembley stadium, they drew 1–1 with Billericay Town, before being beaten 1–2 in the replay at the City Ground in Nottingham.

When the Yorkshire League merged with the Midland League to form the Northern Counties East League (NCEL) in 1981, Sheffield were placed in Division One South of the new competition. They stayed in this division for three seasons before the league was restructured, with the club being reassigned to the newly formed Division One. In 1989 they won the division One title, but they were relegated back again a year later because of their lack of floodlights.

2007 was a momentous year for Sheffield F.C. as they entered their 150th year. They finished as runners-up in the league to secure promotion to the Northern Premier League (NPL) for the first time.

Sheffield have reached the play-offs of the NPL Division One South on four occasions, but have so far failed to win promotion. In their first Division One South campaign in 2008 they reached the final, losing on penalties to Nantwich Town, before being knocked out in the semi-finals in 2010, 2012 and 2019. The club first played in the FA Trophy in 2007 after winning promotion to the NPL, but have so far failed to advance past the qualifying rounds. In 2015, the Qataris donated £100,000 to Sheffield FC.

(Source - Wikipedia)

Manager Vill Powell took over in November 2024.

A journey of around 29 miles awaits the Nailers today for our only away match of the season to take place in Derbyshire.

The Opposition - This Season
While Sheffield currently occupy bottom spot in the table and are five points from safety, their start to the season was a good one.
Victory over Nantwich in the FA Cup was followed by draws with Newton Aycliffe, Carlton and Clitheroe who they then defeated in a replay.
After defeats against Brighouse and Stocksbridge they progressed once more in the FA Cup with victory over Pontefract but then came a run of six successive defeats.
A win at Ashington stopped the rot but was followed by reversals against Dunston, North Ferriby and Bradford PA.
Victory over Pontefract on the 30th of November was their first league win in eleven but despite a heavy defeat against Garforth they come into today undefeated in two - a comprehensive win against Heaton Stannington and a draw at Newton Aycliffe.

The Nailers
Belper started the season in excellent form, losing just once in their opening seven competitive fixtures.
They bounced back from an FA Cup replay defeat at Bromsgrove Sporting to win six of their next seven but two home defeats inside four days, to Brighouse Town and Newton Aycliffe proved a setback.
They were soon back to winning ways, with five successive league victories but exited the FA Trophy on penalties at Chasetown.
Recent weeks have seen a couple of matches called off, but a good win at Grimsby Borough was soon forgotten with a poor performance in a heavy defeat at Stocksbridge.
After defeating Glossop North End on penalties in the Derbyshire Senior Cup, it was a trip to Garforth a couple of Tuesdays ago and an even match finished 1-1, a first league draw of the season for Belper after 19 games.
Last time out the Nailers were impressive in a 3-0 win at home to Heaton Stannington.
Harry Draper remains well clear as leading goalscorer with 19 while Luke Rawson has six and Nat Crofts & Curtis Burrows five each.

Head to Head
The two sides have met on 43 occasions, the first in September 1958 being a FA Cup victory for Sheffield.
Highlights over the years include heavy Belper wins: 6-1 in April 1995, 4-1 in April 1997, 6-2 in December 2009 and 5-1 in December 2012.
Belper are undefeated in the fixture since April 2018, winning two and drawing three of the last five.
Overall record for Belper: P 43 W 20 D 12 L 11 F 75 A 56.
(14 x NCEL, 26 x NPL, 1 x FA Cup, 1 x Doodson Sports Cup, 1 x Presidents Cup)

Form Guide (all comps)
Sheffield: LWWLWD
Belper Town: WLDDDW

Team News
There are no major injury concerns or suspensions.

Permutations
Belper cannot go top but can leapfrog Emley if they better the result of the Yorkshire side.
Newton Aycliffe are currently five points behind so at least 3rd spot is secure for the time being.
Sheffield cannot move from the bottom of the table, with four points separating them from Sherwood Colliery however they remain only six points from Brighouse in 16th.

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

Thursday, 26th December 2024 - 3:00pm kick off

Home of Football Stadium
Sheffield Road
Dronfield
Derbyshire
S18 2GD

Admission prices: Adults £10, Concessions £5

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
The top two are both at home but have tricky opponents while there's an intriguing battle of two playoff placed teams as Dunston entertain Newton Aycliffe.
There is a huge north-east derby between Heaton Stannington and Ashington, with both teams in need of points.

(13th) Bishop Auckland vs. Consett AFC (12th)
(8th) Bradford (Park Avenue) vs. Pontefract Collieries (15th)
(19th) Bridlington Town vs. Grimsby Borough (11th)
(1st) Cleethorpes Town vs. North Ferriby (5th)
(6th) Dunston vs. Newton Aycliffe (4th)
(2nd) Emley AFC vs. Stocksbridge Park Steels (7th)
(9th) Garforth Town vs. Brighouse Town (16th)
(18th) Heaton Stannington vs. Ashington AFC (20th)
(17th) Ossett United vs. Liversedge (14th)
(22nd) Sheffield vs. Belper Town (3rd)
(21st) Sherwood Colliery vs. Carlton Town (10th)