Match Preview

Ossett United (H) – Saturday, 10th February 2024

The Opposition
Ossett United were formed in 2018 following a merger between Ossett Town (est. 1936) and Ossett Albion (est. 1944).
Both of those clubs had been long standing in the NPL and the new club set up camp at Ingfield, former home of Town.
Recent seasons have seen familiar faces involved with the club.
Ahead of the 22/23 season Jas Colliver and Mark Ward took over as joint managers but this appointment did not work out and Grant Black, Belper manager in the promotion campaign two seasons ago, took over in October 2022.
The fledgling club has picked up a single honour, the West Riding County Cup in 2019.

The Ramicorns struggled at the start of this season in the League, winning only one of their first five fixtures, this left them one place off bottom.
They then won successive away matches in the north-east, at Newton Aycliffe and Consett which steadied the ship.
The turn of the year saw a run of bad form with six defeats on the spin, a run ended with an Alex Peterson goal at Brighouse.
Their last two league matches, both at home have seen a 0-0 draw with Stocksbridge and a 3-4 defeat to Newton Aycliffe, where they came back from 0-3 down to level the scores before conceding the decisive goal seven minutes from time.
Ossett have only won 1 out of 14 matches at Ingfield in the League this season, with five draws and eight defeats putting them bottom of the 'home' league table.
On the road they have faired much better, winning 5 from 11 and they will probably be glad to see the fixture list which shows five out of their next six including today are away.
Mainly because of their struggles at HQ they come in to this fixture in 17th place:
P 25 W 6 D 5 L 14 F 27 A 50 Pts. 23

In the FA Cup, they were drawn at home three times in a row, finally succumbing to Premier Division side Marske United.
In the FA Trophy, a trip to North Ferriby was their undoing in the First Qualifying Round.

Former Nailer Alex Peterson leads the scoring charts with 9.
Other players who have formerly pulled on the yellow & black include Derry Robson, Janni Lipka and Corey Gregory along with interim manager Dave Brown.

The Nailers
Belper have picked up three wins from five games since the turn of the year.
A disappointing result on the long trip to Ashington was soon forgotten - victories at home to North Ferriby and away to Newton Aycliffe were secured despite red cards in both matches.
The Nailers come in to today off the back of two successive wins and following today are on the road at Consett (17th Feb) and Cleethorpes (21st Feb).
Belper sit 2nd in the table with a record of P 25 W 14 D 3 L 8 F 53 A 37 Pts. 45.
Of 13 matches at the Raygar Stadium, seven have been won and five lost.
Kevin Bastos leads the way with 17 goals. Cam Johnson secured 7 before his move to Sheffield and Phil Watt has 6.

Head to Head
Belper have only met the current Ossett United twice.
Both in 2018/19, the two matches saw 11 goals.
In September at Ingfield, a stunning 60 yard goal from Jack Vann in injury time secured a point for Ossett with the match finishing 3-3.
The Nailers picked up the points back at Belper the following April. 0-2 down after 48 minutes, goals from Robson, Crouz and South saw the game turned on its head with the hosts winning 3-2.
The return fixture from today is scheduled for Saturday, 23rd March.

With regards the previous clubs, Belper had faced Ossett Albion on 31 occasions, winning only 10.
Against Town, 26 matches were played and the Nailers were victorious once again in 10 of them.

Form Guide (League)
Belper Town - (30 Dec) WLWLWW (3 Feb)
Ossett United - (6 Jan) LLLWDL (3 Feb)

Team News
Ben Rhodes is nearing full fitness and is in contention to return.
Brodie Litchfield completes his two match ban.

Permutations
Top spot is out of reach for the Nailers no matter the result as six points separate us from Stockton.
There are three teams waiting to leapfrog Belper if we fail to secure the points - Dunston, Hebburn and Pontefract.
Ossett could in theory end the day in the relegation zone if they are defeated, Grantham win and Stocksbridge pick up a point.
The Ramicorns are four points behind Sheffield FC so cannot climb the table today.

Match details
Belper Town vs. Ossett United
Northern Premier League Division One - East Division
Saturday, 10th February 2024 – 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

Game of the day is probably 3rd vs. 7th at Dunston as they welcome Carlton.

Dunston v Carlton Town
Grimsby Borough v Ashington AFC
Hebburn Town v Brighouse Town
Liversedge v North Ferriby
Pontefract Collieries v Bridlington Town
Sheffield v Grantham Town
Stocksbridge Park Steels v Consett AFC
Stockton Town v Cleethorpes Town
Winterton Rangers v Newton Aycliffe