Cleethorpes Town (A) – Wednesday, 10th April 2024
The Opposition - History
Cleethorpes Town are a relatively new team, formed as recently as 1998.
Progress through the leagues was swift during the 2010s, with promotion from the Lincolnshire League in 2012 followed by the NCEL Division One title in 2014 and finally the Premier Division in 2017 which brought them to the NPL where they have been ever since.
Also in there was a trip to Wembley for the FA Vase final in 2017, where they lost to South Shields.
The Opposition - This Season
The Owls enjoyed a great start to the season, going undefeated in their first six matches in all competitions, conceding just three goals.
However back to back defeats followed at the end of August and September saw both cup runs ended, with defeat to Hanley Town in the FA Trophy and Alfreton Town in the FA Cup.
They soon picked up again, with five wins in a row but found November and December tricky, failing to win in that period.
The new calendar year brought better fortunes, going undefeated in their first four fixtures of 2024 but back to back 1-3 defeats against Dunston and Consett followed.
February saw a bit of a catchup on fixtures, with five matches played and plenty of goals.
The month started with a comfortable home win over Bridlington but defeat against North Ferriby followed.
There was a glut of late goals when they travelled to league leaders Stockton but they ended up on the wrong side of a 3-4 defeat.
They bounced back to defeat Ashington 2-1 but were eliminated from the Lincolnshire Senior Cup by Scunthorpe United at the semi-final stage in front of 561 fans.
Recent weeks have seen good victories over Carlton and Winterton, and at the weekend they defeated Brighouse Town 2-1 thanks to a brace from Josh Walker.
They travel to the Raygar Stadium on Saturday for the return fixture and their last two fixtures see them entertain Stocksbridge before heading to Ossett United.
A journey of around 90 miles awaits the Nailers for this fixture which was previously postponed in November, January, February and March.
The Linden Club has attracted an average attendance of 355 this season, with the highest in the league being 578 against Grimsby Borough in the recent derby.
This will be the 7th midweek match Cleethorpes have played at home this season. By contrast Belper have had just three.
Managers Tim Lowe and Liam Dickens took over in March 2023 and Will Annan leads the scoring charts with 11, backed up by Josh Walker with 9. Curtis Bateson and Alex Flett have 7.
The Nailers
Belper come in to this match off the back of a late win over Sheffield on Bank Holiday Monday, with the weekend fixture at Liversedge having been postponed along with the previous Saturday at Pontefract, leaving the Nailers with a fixture headache heading in to the home straight of the season.
A Curtis Burrows brace provided a first win in five but by contrast Belper have only suffered one defeat in nine, away to playoff rivals Dunston.
Belper sit 6th in the table with a record of P 32 W 17 D 6 L 9 F 62 A 44 Pts. 57.
Away from home, the Nailers have won 8 out of 15 matches.
Kevin Bastos leads the way with 18 goals. Cam Johnson secured 8 before his move to Sheffield. Curtis Burrows and Phil Watt have 6.
Head to Head
The Owls and the Nailers have met seven times.
The first three produced some crazy scorelines, with a 4-4 draw at Cleethorpes in October 2017 followed by the Nailers going down 0-7 at home in the reverse fixture.
The following season saw another heavy defeat for Belper, this time 1-5 away but they finally picked up their first (and to date only) victory in the fixture back at Belper in April 2019.
Cleethorpes have won the three fixtures since then and the overall record from a Belper perspective reads: P 7 W 1 D 1 L 5 F 8 A 22.
The return fixture is scheduled for this coming Saturday, 13th April.
Form Guide (League)
Cleethorpes Town - (16 Mar) LDWWLW (6 Apr)
Belper Town - (17 Feb) WDLDDW (1 Apr)
Team News
Kevin Bastos is available for selection again.
Karl Demidh serves a one match ban.
Permutations
Three matches are scheduled on Tuesday evening, two of which will impact Belper's playoff push.
If Carlton defeat Hebburn, Belper will start the match in 7th.
If Dunston are successful at home to Sheffield they will move ten points ahead of the Nailers.
Victory for either Sheffield or Liversedge in their Tuesday matches will see them overtake Cleethorpes who could start the match as low as 13th.
Match details
Cleethorpes Town vs. Belper Town
Northern Premier League Division One - East Division
Wednesday, 10th April 2024 – 7:45pm kick off
The Linden Club
Clee Road
Grimsby
DN32 8QL
Tickets: Adults £9, Concessions £6, 6-15 £3, U6 £Free
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
Tuesday night fixtures:
Carlton Town vs. Hebburn Town
Dunston vs. Sheffield
Liversedge P-P Grantham Town