The Opposition - Key Facts
Full name: Newcastle Town Football Club
Nickname: The Castle
Founded: 1964
Ground: Lyme Valley Stadium
Capacity: 4,000 (300 seated)
Chairman: Gavin Appleby
Manager: Neil Baker (since August 2025)
Last season: 16th/22 (NPL West)
Journey distance: 42 miles

The Opposition - History
Formed as a Sunday league team in 1964, Newcastle Town joined Division Two of the Mid-Cheshire League in 1982, winning the title with 102 goals. They added the League Cup in 1984–85 and the league in 1985–86 before merging with Parkway Clayton. After winning the Sentinel Shield in 1986–87, they were promoted to the North West Counties League.

Runners-up in 1991–92 earned them promotion to Division One, where they won the Floodlit Cup and later the Walsall Senior Cup twice. In 1995–96 they finished runners-up again, with another Floodlit Cup win. The following year they reached the FA Cup first round, losing 2–0 to Notts County before a record 3,948 crowd, while also finishing league runners-up and winning the League Cup. Another runners-up finish came in 1999–2000, alongside an FA Vase semi-final defeat to Deal Town.

Further runners-up followed in 2004–05. Renamed the Premier Division in 2008, they won it in 2009–10 to secure promotion to the Northern Premier League Division One South, also thrashing Port Vale 6–1 in the Staffordshire Senior Cup final. They finished runners-up again in 2010–11, and a third-place finish in 2014–15 ended with a play-off defeat.

The Opposition - This Season
The Castle had a fantastic opening to the season, defeating Stourport Swifts 4-0 in the FA Cup.
They lost narrowly at Bury in their NPL opener before bouncing back to defeat Sporting Khalsa.
However things then took a turn for the worse, with an exit from the Cup at the hands of Sutton Coldfield Town and they come into today off the back of three successive league defeats against Shifnal Town, Atherton Collieries and Vauxhall Motors.

League (20th): P 5 W 1 D 0 L 4 F 4 A 7 Pts. 3
Cups: P 2 W 1 D 0 L 1 F 5 A 3

Top goalscorers: Thomas Jones (3), Various (1)
Most appearances: Various (7)
Biggest victory: 4-0 vs. Stourport Swifts (2nd August)
Heaviest defeat: 1-3 vs. Sutton Coldfield Town (16th August) and Vauxhall Motors (25th August)
Highest home attendance: 167 vs. Atherton Collieries (23rd August)
Average home attendance: 146 (22nd/22)
Most consecutive wins: 1
Most games without a win: 4
Most consecutive defeats: 4
Most games without a defeat: 1

The Nailers
After an indifferent pre-season Belper got off to a winning start in the NPL at St. Neots Town.
The first home match saw a narrow win over Loughborough Students but this was followed by a disappointing FA Cup exit at the hands of Kidsgrove Athletic.
The following midweek saw a trip to league newcomers Lichfield City and the Nailers come away with a 1-1 draw but a few days later it was back to winning ways as Boldmere St. Michaels were defeated at the Raygar Stadium.
A trip to Basford on Bank Holiday Monday resulted in a first goalless draw since March and a second successive clean sheet for Kieran Preston and his defence.
Last Saturday Belper took the lead at home to Rugby Town but were forced to settle for a point.
Kevin Bastos leads the goalscoring charts with five, while Ben Rhodes has two. James Tague, Jack Broadhead, Jonathan Wafula and Louis Keenan have one apiece.

Head to Head
The sides have met on 19 occasions and have now been drawn against each other in the FA Trophy three times in six seasons.
Belper won the first encounter 3-2 with a couple of late goals after finding themselves behind at the break.
They also won the second but Newcastle bounced back by thrashing the Nailers 5-0 in March 2011 and then winning again the following season before Belper went on a seven match unbeaten streak in the fixture.
Belper have scored exactly two goals in each of the last four meetings, that wasn't enough in the Trophy fixture of October 2023 which Newcastle won on penalties but Belper got revenge two seasons ago, winning in the First Qualifying Round at the Raygar Stadium.
Overall record for Belper: P 19 W 9 D 6 L 4 F 32 A 28
(16 x NPL, 1 x Presidents Cup, 2 x FA Trophy)

Form Guide (all competitive matches)
Belper Town: LDWDD
Newcastle Town: WLLLL

Team News
Full team news will be announced at 2:15pm. There are no major injury concerns or suspensions.

Permutations
The tie will be settled on the day and will go straight to penalties if the scores are level after 90 minutes.
The winner will take their place in the Second Qualifying Round.

Match details
Belper Town vs. Newcastle Town
Isuzu FA Trophy First Qualifying Round

Saturday, 6th September 2025 - 3:00pm kick off

Raygar Stadium
Bridge Street
Belper
Derbyshire
DE56 1BA

Admission prices: Adults £11, Concessions (under 16 and 60+) £7, Under 11 (with paying adult) £0
*All pay fixture - Season Tickets not valid*
Cash and card accepted on the turnstiles.

Follow the match
Full coverage of the match:

• Audio commentary on Radio Belper Town
• Full text coverage on X and Facebook
• Match reports on the website (all matches) and in the Non-League Paper (Saturday matches only)

FA Trophy fixtures featuring NPL Midlands teams
Bedworth United vs. Darlaston Town
Belper Town vs. Newcastle Town
Bourne Town vs. AFC Rushden & Diamonds
Coleshill Town vs. Sporting Khalsa
Coventry Sphinx vs. Lincoln United
Lichfield City vs. Corby Town
Long Eaton United vs. Carlton Town
Malvern Town vs. Loughborough Students
Mickleover FC vs. Basford United
Rugby Town vs. Racing Club Warwick
Shepshed Dynamo vs. Anstey Nomads
Sporting Club Inkberrow FC vs. St. Neots Town
Stafford Rangers vs. Boldmere St. Michaels
Sutton Coldfield Town vs. Kidsgrove Athletic