Match Preview

Consett AFC (A) – Saturday, 17th February 2024

The Opposition - History
A fellow 19th century formed club, Consett AFC trace their roots back to the summer of 1899 when they were created as Consett Celtic, adopting their current name in 1922.
Early days were spent in the Northern Alliance with mixed success, finishing bottom of the league in 1923 but bouncing back and securing the runners-up spot a couple of years later.
At this point the entire league defected over to the North Eastern League to form a new Division Two and Consett won the inaugural title in 1927 to gain promotion to Division One. Unfortunately relegation followed in the next season.
The 1930s saw them become of a bit of a yo-yo club with a further promotion, then relegation again before returning to the Northern Alliance which had been re-established.
In 1935 they returned to the North Eastern League, now operating with only a single division and remained here until it was suspended for WWII.
They spent a couple of seasons in the Midland League in the late 1950s and reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup in 1958.
They were founder members of the Northern Counties League in 1960 and won it a couple of years later.
More success would come later in the 1960s and 1970s, twice finishing runners-up in the Wearside League and joint top of the Northern League.
In the late 1980s they secured the Division Two title and 1995 saw them win the League Cup before a second trip to the FA Cup proper in 1996, losing 0-4 to Mansfield Town.
In to the 2000s and the yo-yo effect returned, with two promotions and two relegations.
More recently, in 2020 Consett reached the final of the FA Vase, losing 2-3 to Hebburn Town.
They reached the Northern Premier League by defeating Histon in an inter-step playoff in 2022 and finished 13th last season.

The Opposition - This Season
The Steelmen started the season in fantastic form. They were undefeated in the league until late September when Pontefract took the points away from Belle View in a match that had originally been abandoned with Consett ahead.
Just before this they had suffered a heavy FA Trophy defeat at Bootle and had exited the FA Cup to Bradford Park Avenue.
After the defeat to Pontefract came another reversal on the road at the Raygar Stadium and some inconsistent form followed, with victories over North Ferriby and Spennymoor (Cup) interspersed with defeats to Ossett and Brighouse.
A three game winning streak began with victory over Newton Aycliffe in late October and after defeat at Bridlington they picked up two further victories to sit 3rd in mid-December.
2024 has seen just four matches so far, with wins on the road at Liversedge and Cleethorpes being offset somewhat by defeats to Dunston and last time out at Hebburn 1-3 where the game was level until the 85th minute.

The Steelmen are based in County Durham – 157 miles separate us from the Belle View Stadium.

Manager Andy Coyles took over as permanent manager in December 2021 having been appointed on a temporary basis the previous month.
Wil Shaw is top of the scoring charts this season with 12. Scott Fenwick and Ben Ramsey have 9.

They currently sit 6th with the following record:
P 23 W 13 D 8 L 8 F 41 A 31 Pts. 41
22 of those points have come at Belle View.
The average attendance at home games is 331 and the highest of the season saw 433, in their previous home fixture against Dunston.

The Nailers
Belper come in to the match in good form, with three successive victories over Newton Aycliffe, Carlton Town and Ossett United.
Only one goal has been conceded during that run and the Nailers defence have kept two successive clean sheets.
Including this match, five of Belper's next seven matches are on the road.
Those victories have given us a four point cushion meaning 2nd place in the table is secure at 4.45pm no matter the result at Belle View.
Belper's record reads: P 26 W 15 D 3 L 8 F 55 A 37 Pts. 48.
Seven of those wins and 23 of the points have come away from home.
Kevin Bastos remains clear as top scorer with 17. Cam Johnson hit 8 before his move to Sheffield and Phil Watt has 6.

Head to Head
The only previous meeting between the sides was earlier this season, back in September.
Belper left it late, with goals from Bastos and Cadman securing a 2-1 win for the Nailers after Consett's leading scorer Wil Shaw had given them the lead on the hour mark.
This match remains the only game this season where Belper have conceded the first goal and gone on to win (credit to Tim Harrison for the stat!)

Form Guide (League)
Consett - (26 Dec) DLWLWL (3 Feb)
Belper Town - (9 Jan) LWLWWW (10 Feb)

Team News
Ben Rhodes and Phil Watt are in contention to return.
Brodie Litchfield is unavailable as he completes his three match ban.
New signing Robbie McNicholas is available to make his debut if selected.

Permutations
Belper's good run means that a four point gap has been established to 3rd place Dunston and so the Nailers will finish the day in 2nd no matter what - Stockton are six points clear at the top.
It is of course worth noting that every team in the chasing pack behind us have multiple games in hand, including Dunston's five and three each for Pontefract and today's opponents.
For Consett, victory will take them in to the playoffs if Pontefract fail to defeat Grantham or if Hebburn are defeated. They are unlikely to usurp Dunston due to their superior goal difference.
Defeat would open the door for North Ferriby, Carlton and Newton Aycliffe to leapfrog them in a tight top half of the table.
Only eight points separate 2nd and 9th.

Match details
Consett AFC vs. Belper Town
Northern Premier League Division One - East Division
Saturday, 17th February 2024 – 3:00pm kick off
Belle View Stadium
Delves Lane
Consett
County Durham
DH8 7BF
Tickets: Adults £10, Concessions £7, Juniors £4. Cash only.

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

There are a couple of intriguing games in the top half as leaders Stockton face a tricky trip to North Ferriby who defeated 4th placed Hebburn last time out at the Dransfield Stadium.

Hebburn face the long trip to face Carlton who are only two points outside the playoffs.

There's a huge game at the bottom where basement side Winterton can go level on points with their hosts Stocksbridge if they win, although their -33 goal difference remains a huge disadvantage.

The Nailers could do with a favour from Liversedge who entertain Dunston, and a draw at Carlton would be nice!

Pontefract have three games in hand on us so a point or more for Grantham in West Yorkshire would also be welcome.

Saturday 17th February 2024
(10th) Ashington AFC vs. Cleethorpes Town (12th)
(14th) Bridlington Town vs. Sheffield (16th)
(8th) Carlton Town vs. Hebburn Town (4th)
(11th) Grimsby Borough vs. Ossett United (18th)
(13th) Liversedge vs. Dunston (3rd)
(9th) Newton Aycliffe vs. Brighouse Town (15th)
(7th) North Ferriby vs. Stockton Town (1st)
(5th) Pontefract Collieries vs. Grantham Town (19th)
(17th) Stocksbridge Park Steels vs. Winterton Rangers (20th)