The Opposition - Key Facts
Full name: Rugby Town Football Club
Nickname: The Valley
Founded: 1956
Ground: Butlin Road
Capacity: 5,000
Chairman: Brian Melvin
Manager: Grant Joshua (since May 2025)
Last season: 22nd/22 (NPL Midlands - relegated)
Journey distance: 56 miles

The Opposition - History
Rugby Town FC began in 1956 as New Bilton Juniors, soon renamed Valley Sports and progressing through local leagues before becoming VS Rugby in 1969. After several ground moves, they settled at Butlin Road in 1973. Under manager Jimmy Knox from 1981, the club enjoyed its greatest success, winning the 1983 FA Vase, claiming league and cup honours, and reaching the FA Cup second round in 1987/88. A highlight came in 1991 with a 1–0 win over Manchester United in a testimonial.

After Knox’s departure, financial struggles saw the club enter receivership in 1992, but supporters rescued it and promotion soon followed. Name changes to Rugby United (2000) and Rugby Town (2005) proved contentious. In the 2010s, Dave Stringer twice led the team close to promotion via play-offs, before a period of managerial changes and eventual relegation to the Midland Football League in 2017.

Stringer briefly returned, then Carl Adams took over in 2018. The club’s best FA Vase run since 1983 came in 2021–22, and in 2022–23 Rugby secured promotion back into the Northern Premier League system.

Last season they finished bottom of the NPL Midlands, suffering relegation to the UCL Premier South.

The Opposition - This Season
The Valley began their season with a 3-0 win away to Histon before sharing two goals at home to Moulton.
Their first defeat came against FC Peterborough but they bounced back by knocking Uttoxeter Town out of the FA Cup to set up this tie today.
They come in to the match having failed to win since that match, firstly a defeat at St. Neots Town then Tuesday night's draw at home to Northampton ON Chenecks.

League (10th/19): P 5 W 1 D 2 L 2 F 7 A 6 Pts. 5
Cups: P 1 W 1 D 0 L 0 F 2 A 0
FA Cup: Still in (play Belper Town today)
FA Vase: Still in (play Shawbury United in Second Qualifying Round)
County Cup: N/A

Top goalscorers: Ryan Bridgewater and Sam Tye (2)
Biggest victory: 3-0 vs. Histon (25th July)
Heaviest defeat: 2-3 vs. FC Peterborough (1st August) and 0-1 vs. St. Neots Town (15th August)
Highest home attendance: 394 vs. FC Peterborough (1st August)
Average home attendance: 328 (2nd/19)
Most consecutive wins: 1
Most games without a win: 2
Most consecutive defeats: 1
Most games without a defeat: 2

The Nailers
Belper's results improved as pre-season went on.
Beginning with a defeat at Sheffield, back to back 2-2 draws followed at Matlock and Heanor before Belper United secured the inaugural Belper Memorial Cup.
After four matches without a win, the Nailers won the last three against Gresley Rovers, Congleton Town and a comprehensive victory against Kidsgrove Athletic.
The NPL campaign began with a goalless draw at Shepshed and continued with another at Loughborough the following Tuesday!
This represented Belper's first back to back goalless draws for nearly 25 years.
Last Saturday saw a third successive game without scoring as Coventry United took the points from the Raygar Stadium but the Nailers finally got on the scoresheet and took three points against Boldmere St. Michaels on Tuesday.
Most appearances: Various (4)
Top goalscorers Jonathan Wafula (1)

Head to Head
The sides have met on eight previous occasions, the first five all within an 18 month period when both sides were in the NPL South.
The first match was a goalless draw before Rugby won a League Cup encounter by the odd goal in seven.
They also secured a win in the next encounter at Belper but the Nailers then secured three points in each of the following two meetings without conceding a goal.
The first of last season's league meetings finished 1-1 at the Raygar Stadium, with an Elliot penalty cancelling out Louis Keenan's opener.
A few weeks later the sides crossed paths again, this time in the FA Trophy at Butlin Road. Belper led 2-0 at half time but an inspired second half from Rugby saw them progress to the next round.
The Nailers returned in February to exact revenge with one of their best performances of the season, recording four different scorers in a 4-1 win.

Overall record for Belper: P 8 W 3 D 2 L 3 F 14 A 11.
(6 x NPL, 1 x FA Trophy, 1 x League Cup)

Form Guide (all competitive matches)
Rugby Town: WDLWLD
Belper Town: DDLW

Team News
Full team news will be announced at 2:15pm.

Permutations
The winners of the tie will enter the draw for the First Qualifying Round of the Emirates FA Cup.
Should the match today end in a draw, the replay would take place this coming Tuesday 25th August at the Raygar Stadium with a 7:45pm kick-off.

Prize money is £1,444 to the winning club and £481 to the losing club.

Match details
Rugby Town vs. Belper Town
Emirates FA Cup Preliminary Round

Saturday, 22nd August 2026 - 3:00pm kick-off

Butlin Road
Rugby
CV21 3SD

Admission prices: Adults £10, Concessions £5, U18s £5, U12s £2
Cash and card accepted.

Directions and Parking
From Belper, head for the M1 either via Raynesway joining it at J24 or the A52 joining it at J25 and head southbound.
Leave the M1 at J20 and turn right at the roundabout to join Lutterworth Road then at the next roundabout take the first exit on to Rugby Road (A426).
At the next roundabout take the first exit on to the A5 southbound.
Just after you go over the M6 bridge, turn right on to Market Harborough Road then take the first left on to Newton Road.
This eventually becomes Church Street and you then bear right on to Main Street which becomes Rugby Road again then Clifton Road.
Turn left after you cross the railway bridge on to Butlin Road and the ground is at the end of this road on your left.

There is a large and free to use car park on site.

Follow the match
Full coverage of the match:

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

Emirates FA Cup fixtures
There are 136 fixtures taking place in this round of the Emirates FA Cup, with 53 new entries to the competition and 219 teams through from the previous round. This round sees the remaining Step 4 sides enter.
Four matches take place on Friday evening and two on Sunday. The other 130 are being played today.
A full list of the fixtures can be found here