Match Preview

Pontefract Collieries (A) – Tuesday, 23rd April 2024

The Opposition - History
Football in the town can be traced back to the 19th century when Pontefract Garrison competed in the West Yorkshire League.
Pontefract Borough are known to have reached the Yorkshire League in the late 1920s.
They then ceased to exist, with football in Pontefract being resurrected in 1935 by Tanshelf Gems and they soon became Pontefract United.
After the war they were joined in the town by the Collieries side and by the late 1950s both sides were playing in the West Yorkshire League.
Collieries became extinct in 1960 but bounced back a couple of years later when United merged with a local youth side and took the name on.
They enjoyed success in the West Yorkshire League and joined the Yorkshire League in 1979, winning Division Three in 1982.
The following year the Yorkshire and Midland Leagues combined to form the Northern Counties East League, of which Colls were founder members.
They were promoted in each of the first two seasons of its existence and held their position in the NCEL Premier for a decade.
They eventually suffered relegation in 1995 but bounced straight back, picking up the Wilkinson Sword Trophy the same season.
A further relegation followed in 2002 and it would be 2015 before they returned to the Premier. The 2007/08 season in particular was a disaster for the Colls who won the first game of the season but failed to pick up another victory. Only a league restructure saved them from relegation.
In 2018 they secured over 100 points to win the NCEL Prem and reach the NPL.
In their first season they finished 2nd in the East Division but lost out to Brighouse Town in the play-offs.
The last couple of seasons since the Covid abandoned ones have seen them finish 12th and 10th.
(Source: Pontefract Collieries website)

The Opposition - This Season
Colls started the season with a good FA Cup victory over Birtley Town but a defeat in the league to Carlton.
Guisborough Town then ended the Cup campaign and Hebburn made it two defeats from two in the NPL East.
They picked up with three wins in a row before league leaders Stockton ended their FA Trophy hopes at the first hurdle.
This didn't distract them in the league as they went on to defeat the same opposition the following week and then Consett.
After thrashing Steeton 6-2 in the West Riding Senior Cup, their good form stuttered slightly but from 11th November to 30th December they won seven out of eight to sit 3rd going in to 2024.
The good form didn't continue, with three wins from eight games played in January and February but March saw an improvement with no defeats suffered during the month.
April started with defeat to Stocksbridge but they come in to this fixture off the back of four successive league wins - including 6-0 on Saturday - and a 4-0 win in the West Riding Senior Cup; they will face Knaresborough in the final.
Their record this season reads as follows:
P 36 W 19 D 9 L 8 F 68 A 36 Pts. 66
At home, they have won 10 out of 18 and picked up 34 points.

Adam Haw tops the scoring charts with an impressive 20 goals and Bailey Thompson has 12.
Manager Craig Rouse took the reigns in January 2021.

The Nailers
The less said about Belper's form, the better.
Having halted a mini slide with a Bank Holiday victory over Sheffield, the Nailers have lost three in a row without scoring to slip down the table to 7th.
The highest they can now finish is 5th due to Pontefract's goal difference and even that will require three straight wins and massive favours from elsewhere.
Belper sit 7th in the table with a record of P 35 W 17 D 6 L 12 F 62 A 55 Pts. 57.
Away from home, the Nailers have won 8 out of 17 matches.
Kevin Bastos leads the way with 18 goals. Cam Johnson secured 8 before his move to Sheffield and Curtis Burrows & Phil Watt have 6.

Head to Head
The two sides met on many occasions in the NCEL, and the fixture has been played 33 times in total.
Belper enjoyed the better of things in the 1980s, winning five out of the first six league encounters but Colls won the first overall, a NCE League Cup tie in February 1984.
Between October 1986 and September 1990, the Nailers won only one out of seven but bounced back to win three of the next four including a thrilling FA Vase Preliminary Round tie which finished 4-3.
Pontefract then took a strangle hold of the fixture again, winning 4-1 in December 1992 and 5-1 in September 1993.
January of the following year saw Belper win 4-1, the first of a run where they won six out of seven, with the other a draw in August 1994.
The sides didn't meet from March 1997 until October 2018 when goals from Robson, Peterson and Milner saw Belper come out on top 3-2.
The last two meetings have been won by Colls, 4-2 in January 2019 and 3-1 earlier this season with Kevin Bastos scoring for Belper.
Overall record for Belper: P 33 W 15 D 5 L 12 (1 abandoned) F 54 A 53.

Form Guide (League)
Pontefract Collieries - (23 Mar) DLWWWW (20 Apr)
Belper Town - (16 Mar) DDWLLL (20 Apr)

Team News
Kevin Bastos serves the second of his three match ban.
Ben Rhodes is available for selection again.

Permutations
Only victory for Belper will keep their playoff hopes alive.
They are currently eight points from the playoff zone with nine to play for.
Realistically they can only catch Carlton as Pontefract are nine points ahead but have a goal difference advantage of 25 over Belper.
Victory tonight will see the Nailers overtake Newton Aycliffe and claim 6th place.

Match details
Pontefract Collieries vs. Belper Town
Northern Premier League Division One - East Division
Tuesday, 23rd April 2024 – 7:45pm kick off
The Hunters Stadium
Beechnut Lane
Pontefract
WF8 4FU
Tickets: Adults £9, Concessions £6, U16s £3 (free with paying adult)

Follow the match
Live commentary is available with Chris 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
Most eyes will be on Hebburn this evening where the home side can secure the title with victory over struggling Ossett. The visitors are not safe from relegation yet and only victory will guarantee their Step 4 status for another season.

Tuesday (positions correct at time of writing)
(5th) Carlton Town vs. Dunston (3rd)
(1st) Hebburn Town vs. Ossett United (17th)

Wednesday
(11th) Sheffield vs. Grantham Town (20th)

Thursday
(10th) Liversedge vs. Belper Town (7th)