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Belper Town face one of the
most important weeks in their recent history as they chase their duel
objective of a UniBond League play-off place and the possibility of
winning silverware in the Derbyshire Senior Cup Final.
The Derbyshire Senior Cup
Final second leg against Conference North side, Alfreton Town on Tuesday
evening sees the Nailers holding a narrow advantage after their 3-2
success at North Street in the first leg.
The Nailers were without captain,
Jon Hobson for the first leg so his return for the match at Christchurch
Meadow will be seen as major boost for the club. But James Colliver who
suffered a groin strain the first game is still a major doubt for the
second leg, having felt the injury again in the second half of Saturday’s
2-1 victory over Alsager Town.
After the Derbyshire Senior
Cup Final, Belper face the long trip to Colwyn Bay on Thursday evening as
they strive to achieve a play off place in the UniBond League Division
One South.
Bay are also in with a shout
of gaining a coveted play off place so the prospect of losing or drawing
the match is likely to spell the end of the road for one of the sides.
Belper joint manager, Andy
Carney recognises the importance of the week ahead.
“This is a massive week for
the club but I have been giving out the same message over the past three
or four weeks so perhaps the players are getting sick of me repeating
myself.
“The simple fact is that we
have to win all three matches this week if we are to gain any reward from
the season.
“But whatever the outcome,
we’ve had a fantastic season and we are already planning to strengthen
the side next year, irrespective of which division we are playing in”,
said Carney.
Carney though, was less than
impressed by the Nailers showing in the narrow 2-1 win over Alsager Town
on Saturday.
“It was not a pretty game but
at this stage of the season, results and points are more important than
the performance. Having said that, we never really looked in trouble even
though we went behind after only 20 minutes.
“Alsager worked hard and were
well organised but I thought that we controlled the match for long
periods and I couldn’t really see us losing the game.
“We made few changes in the
second half of the Alsager game as we had one eye on the County Cup Final
on Tuesday. Jasper (James Colliver) started to feel his groin strain so
we took him off immediately as a precaution”, added Carney.
Results went particularly well
for the Nailers on Saturday with fellow play-off candidates Colwyn Bay,
Goole and Sheffield all losing whilst Grantham Town could only secure a
point at Cammell Laird, a result that saw the Wirral side earn automatic
promotion to the UniBond Premier Division.
Stocksbridge Park Steels inflicted
yet another home defeat on basement side, Spalding United, and under the
control of former Nailers manger, Gary Marrow, they now look to be
favourites to snatch the final play off spot.
But Steels have tough matches
against champions Retford United and in-form Sheffield FC in the final
week so even they cannot afford to be over-optimistic about their play
off hopes although unlike the Nailers, their destiny is in their own
hands.
So, should the results from other
games continue to work in Belper’s favour, they will hope to travel to
Carlton Town next Saturday (kick off 3.00) with dreams of a play off
place still in the offing.
Remaining fixtures:
Tue 22nd April -
Alfreton Town (h) (DSC Final 2nd Leg) 7.45pm
Thu 24th April -
Colwyn Bay (a) 7.45pm
Sat 26th April -
Carlton Town (a) 3.00pm
Dave
Laughlin
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