Match Preview

Liversedge (H) – Saturday, 11th November 2023

The Opposition
Liversedge were formed in 1910 following the demise of the old Liversedge Rugby Club.
They started in the Bradford League and won it as early as 1921.
They then went on to become a founder member of the West Riding County Amateur League and won it in three of the first five seasons.
Further success followed in the 1960s.
In more recent times, they secured NPL status beginning in the 2021/22 season and secured a league and cup double in their first season, pipping Marske to the East division title and winning the West Riding County Cup.
Source: Liversedge FC website

Sedge struggled at the start of this season, failing to score in five out of their first six matches, although they did put five past Newton Aycliffe in the other.
They also fell out of the FA Cup and FA Trophy at the first hurdle and sat just outside the relegation zone at the end of August.
Recent times have seen a huge upturn in fortunes and they come in to the Raygar Stadium fixture top of the form guide with 15 points from their last 6 matches.

Manager Jonathan Rimmington took over in June 2015 and has been hugely successful.
This season's top scorer is Alex Wollerton with 5 - three players sit on 3 goals each.
Former Nailer Isaac Assenso has pulled on the Sedge shirt 5 times this season.

They currently sit 9th in the table with a record of P 11 W 6 D 0 L 5 F 19 A 14 Pts. 18

The Nailers
With our game at Cleethorpes postponed, the Nailers come in to the match having had a nice rest.
October finished with a win at Brighouse, two Bastos penalties getting the job done.
This followed a winless run of 2 matches which impressively has only happened once all season.
This match is the first of four out of five to be played at home between now and early December.
Results elsewhere during our period of inactivity have pushed us off top spot which is now occupied by Hebburn Town who are three points clear, the Nailers have a game in hand and goal difference advantage.
The Nailers sit 2nd in the table with a record of P 12 W 8 D 1 L 3 F 30 A 15 Pts. 25
At home, Belper have won 3 and lost 2.
Kevin Bastos leads the way with 13 goals, with Cam Johnson on 6. Rev James and Phil Watt are on 5.

Head to Head
The sides have met 14 times and Belper have an impressive record.
Sedge won three out of the first five but Belper then won six out of the next eight.
Last season in the Premier Division, the away team won on both occasions, with Liversedge winning at the Raygar in September before Belper got their revenge at Clayborn in February.
Those meetings were the first for 25 years, with 12 out of the 14 meetings occurring in the 1990s.
From a Belper perspective, the record reads:
P 14 W 9 D 1 L 4 F 29 A 15
The return fixture from today is scheduled for Saturday, 6th April.

Form Guide (League)
Belper Town - (16 Sep) WWWLDW (28 Oct)
Liversedge - (2 Sep) WWLWWW (28 Oct)

Team News
The Nailers have a full squad to choose from including new permanent signing Keiran Walker.

Permutations
The Nailers could return to the top with victory although they will need a favour from former manager Grant Black, his Ossett side entertain Hebburn at Ingfield.
We cannot drop out of the playoff places today whatever the result, with a four point gap to 6th.
For the visitors, if they carry on their fine form with a win they could enter the playoff places although they will need to boost their goal difference and rely on favours elsewhere.
The middle of the table is quite congested and defeat could see them drop as low as 12th.

Match details
Belper Town vs. Liversedge
Northern Premier League Division One - East Division
Saturday, 11th November 2023 – 3:00pm kick off
Raygar Stadium
Bridge Street
Belper
Derbyshire
DE56 1BA
Tickets: Adults £11, Concessions/Students £7, U11s with paying adult £Free

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.

Elsewhere in Division One East

A strange quirk of the fixtures, whereas so many of the top half teams were at home last weekend, this Saturday it's flipped around with only Belper and Consett at home out of the top ten.

(13th) Ashington AFC v Carlton Town (6th)
(12th) Brighouse Town v Cleethorpes Town (8th)
(4th) Consett AFC v Grantham Town (15th)
(14th) Grimsby Borough v Dunston (10th)
(17th) Newton Aycliffe v Bridlington Town (11th)
(16th) Ossett United v Hebburn Town (1st)
(20th) Sheffield v Stockton Town (3rd)
(19th) Stocksbridge Park Steels v North Ferriby (7th)
(18th) Winterton Rangers v Pontefract Collieries (5th)