
The Opposition - Key Facts
Full name: Belper United Football Club
Nickname:
Founded: 1921
Ground: Coronation Park, Eastwood
Capacity: 5,000
Chairman: Matt Herrett
Manager: Alex Steadman
Last season: 8th/20 (UCL Premier North)
Journey distance: 12 miles
The Opposition - History
A Belper United was established in the 1921. By the late 1970s the club was playing in the East Midlands Regional League. They were Division One champions in 1979–80, earning promotion to the Premier Division. In 1984–85 the club were the league's last Premier Division champions, with the league merging with the Central Alliance to form the Midlands Regional Alliance at the end of the season. Belper were placed in the Premier Division of the new league and became its inaugural champions in 1985–86. They won the league's Challenge Cup in 1992–93, before securing a second Premier Division title in 1994–95 and another Challenge Cup the following season. They were later relegated to Division One, which they won in the 2004–05 season to earn promotion back to the Premier Division.
Despite finishing bottom of the Premier Division in 2008–09, Belper were not relegated to Division One. In 2010 they switched to the South Division of the Central Midlands League. In 2014–15 they won the Central Midlands League Floodlight Cup, beating Clay Cross Town 3–2 in the final. After finishing as runners-up in the South Division in 2015–16, the club were promoted to the East Midlands Counties League. They remained members of the league until it was disbanded at the end of the 2020–21 season, at which point they were transferred to Division One of the United Counties League. In their first season in the league they finished third, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. After defeating Radford in the semi-finals, they beat Hinckley 1–0 in the final to earn promotion to the Premier Division North.
(Source - Wikipedia)
The Opposition - This Season
United had a tough start to their league campaign, losing the first three and conceding 11 goals in the process. However they did beat Uttoxeter Town to progress in the FA Cup.
Hanley Town ended the Cup run in emphatic fashion before back to back wins were followed by three defeats.
After this came a good run of form, going five unbeaten.
They knocked Staveley Miners Welfare out of the Derbyshire Senior Cup on penalties in early October before securing successive 4-1 wins in the league and following this up with two more single goal victories to climb up the table.
After a comprehensive win over Heanor Town to enter the last 16 of this competition came two further defeats including 6-1 at Skegness Town and they come into the match this evening off the back of a narrow 3-2 defeat at home to Grantham Town.
Several former Nailers have pulled on the green & black this season including manager Alex Steadman who appeared in Belper Town squads on 155 occasions.
League (6th/20): P 21 W 9 D 3 L 9 F 37 A 40 Pts. 30
Cups: P 8 W 4 D 1 L 3 F 13 A 10
Top goalscorers: Daniel Odunaiya (12), Keaton August (8)
Biggest victory: Three goal victories on six occasions
Heaviest defeat 1-6 vs. Skegness Town (22nd November)
Highest home attendance: 142 vs. Hucknall Town (29th July)
Average home attendance: 115 (18th/20)
Most consecutive wins: 3
Most games without a win: 4
Most consecutive defeats: 3
Most games without a defeat: 5
The Nailers
Belper started the season with back to back wins before coming unstuck in a home FA Cup tie against Kidsgrove Athletic.
After this came a six match unbeaten run, ended with another cup defeat, this time an FA Trophy reversal at Rugby Town.
Once again Lee Attenborough got the response he wanted, with back to back NPL wins being secured.
After this however they lost two on the spin before flipping their form back on its head again to defeat Anstey Nomads and AFC Rushden & Diamonds.
A draw at Racing Club Warwick followed before two late Corby Town goals consigned us to defeat on the road.
That was the last time Belper tasted defeat, with a draw and three recent wins and clean sheets following it.
Most recently at the weekend a Jacob Gratton penalty and thunderbolt finish from James Tague secured the points at Bourne Town.
Five players can still lay claim to have appeared in every match so far.
Goals wise, Kevin Bastos leads the way with seven while Jacob Gratton is one behind on six. Jacob Fenton and Liam Moran have scored five each. Jack Broadhead is on four, Ben Rhodes & Jonathan Wafula have netted three times each and James Tague has two. A further three players have a single goal to their name.
Head to Head
There has never been a competitive match between the two sides.
However, Mike Smith has done some digging and found a few fixtures which took place in the old Belper Nursing Cup, though for both sides it tended to regularly be a mix of reserves and youth players.
In 1991 Belper United won at Christchurch Meadow by two goals to nil against the Nailers Reserves, however Town's second string got their revenge in 1993 with a 1-0 win.
Fast forward 16 years and United won 4-2 on penalties after the 90 minutes finished goalless.
All of these matches were in the semi-final of the competition, the only other meeting was in 2012 and came in the first round, with United winning 1-0 in the only match where they've had home advantage.
Overall record for Belper Town (all Belper Nursing Cup): P 4 W 1 D 1 L 2 F 1 A 3
Form Guide (all competitive matches)
Belper Town: DLDWWW
Belper United: DWLLWL
Team News
Full team news will be announced at 7:00pm.
Permutations
The winners of the tie, which will go straight to penalties if level after 90 minutes, will enter the draw for the quarter-finals of the Derbyshire Senior Cup.
Match details
Belper Town vs. Belper United
Derbyshire Senior Cup 3rd Round
Tuesday, 2nd December 2025 - 7:45pm kick off
Raygar Stadium
Bridge Street
Belper
Derbyshire
DE56 1BA
Admission prices: Adults £8, Concessions & Students (valid ID req.) £5, U11s (w/paying adult) £0
Follow the match
Full coverage of the match:
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