Match Preview

Dunston UTS (A) – Saturday, 9th March 2024

The Opposition - History
As with many of the northern teams, Dunston have their roots as a works team, specifically the HMSO and they were known as Whickham Sports, founding in 1975.
They enjoyed early success, winning the League & Cup double in the Northern Amateur League in 1978 and the Northern Combination League Cup in 1984 and again in 1986, adding the League title on this occasion. By this time they had been renamed Dunston Mechanics.
They secured consecutive Wearside League titles in 1989 and 1990 and the following season were promoted to Division Two of the Northern League.
They were only there for two seasons before winning the title to gain promotion to Division One.
Three successive League Cups followed in the late 1990s.
The early 2000s saw them finish as runners-up before back to back Division One/League Cup doubles.
2007 saw a name change to Dunston Federation following withdrawal of brewery sponsorship and then Dunston UTS in 2009, a sponsorship deal with UTS Engineering.
Dunston played at Wembley in the FA Vase final in 2012, beating West Auckland Town 2-0 to secure the trophy.
In 2019 they won Division One for a third time, to climb to Division One North West of the NPL.
They moved across to the East in 2021 and have remained there since.

The Opposition - This Season
The Fed had a great start to the current campaign, winning four out of their first five in the league to sit 2nd in the table after victory at the Raygar Stadium on the 26th of August.
August ended with a Bank Holiday defeat to Hebburn and September started with an FA Cup exit at the hands of Ashton United.
A second successive league defeat was inflicted by Ashington before their FA Trophy campaign came to an end at Nantwich.
October was a disappointing month, without a victory and an early exit from the Durham Senior Cup.
Poor weather meant only two games were possible in November, both away from home but good victories against teams fighting near the bottom of the table.
They returned to the UTS Stadium in mid-December for the first time in two months and followed up victory at home to Ossett with one at Bridlington then back at Dunston on Boxing Day against local rivals Newton Aycliffe.
Their long unbeaten run stretched throughout January although they failed to win either of their home games.
February started with a statement 4-1 win at home to Ashington but a surprise reversal at Liversedge, a first defeat in 12 matches followed.
They come in to this encounter off the back of a 2-2 draw at home to Stocksbridge on Tuesday (played at Consett) where they conceded an equaliser 10 minutes from time.

Manager Jon McDonald was appointed after the end of last season, having originally joined the club as Assistant Manager in 2021.
Dale Pearson and Jack Maskell lead the scoring charts with 13, followed by David Robinson with 11.
Having conceded just 23 goals, only Stockton boast a better defence than Dunston.
A rut of postponements throughout the season, including several at the UTS Stadium means that Dunston are currently on 25 matches and have four games in hand on some teams in the division.

Their record heading in this fixture reads:
P 25 W 15 D 6 L 4 F 46 A 23 Pts. 51
At home they have picked up six wins and 21 points, with their record on the road much stronger (they are top of the 'away' table).

The Nailers
It was a week off for the Nailers, with the Bridlington fixture, originally scheduled for last weekend having been moved forward to September.
Belper come in to this encounter off the back of four successive clean sheets. Perhaps surprisingly, eight teams still have a better defensive record at this stage.
The 0-0 draw at home to Stocksbridge was well earned in the end, having had talisman Kevin Bastos sent off in the first half.
Starting with this fixture, the Nailers face four away games out of five, with Cleethorpes to come on Wednesday evening followed by a home game against Ashington and trips to Ossett and Pontefract to see out March.
Kevin Bastos remains clear as top scorer with 18, with the now departed Cam Johnson on 7 and Phil Watt on 6.

Head to Head
The Nailers met Dunston Federation Brewery in the FA Vase in 1991. With the first tie at Belper abandoned at 1-1, the sides met again in the north east between Christmas and New Year, with the home side progressing 2-0.
The only meeting since was back at the start of this season when Belper took a 3-1 lead but an 88th minute penalty from top scorer Dale Pearson completed a comeback to give the visitors a 4-3 win.
Overall the record from a Belper perspective reads:
P 2 W 0 D 0 L 2 F 3 A 6 (1 abandoned).

Form Guide (League)
Dunston - (3 Feb) WLDWWD (5 Mar)
Belper Town - (23 Jan) LWWWWD (24 Feb)

Team News
Kevin Bastos begins a four game suspension.

Permutations
Dunston's draw during the week leapfrogged them above Belper on goal difference and they have two games in hand as well.
A win for the hosts will therefore mean they are guaranteed to hold 2nd spot at full time. A draw will be enough if Hebburn fail to win their home match.
For the Nailers only victory will propel them back to 2nd. As with Dunston, a slip-up will allow Hebburn to take our place.

Match details
Dunston UTS vs. Belper Town
Northern Premier League Division One - East Division
Saturday, 9th March 2024 – 3:00pm kick off
Heffernan Utilities Stadium (home of Brighouse Town)
St. Giles Road
Hove Edge
Brighouse
HD6 2PL
Tickets: Adults £10, Concessions £6, U16s £3

Follow the match
Live commentary is available with Tom 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

Only six other matches in the division on Saturday, with our clash undoubtedly game of the day being 2nd vs. 3rd.

Leaders Stockton face a tricky trip to playoff hopefuls Carlton.

(8th) Carlton Town vs. Stockton Town (1st)
(9th) Consett AFC vs. Ashington AFC (13th)
(4th) Hebburn Town vs. Sheffield (14th)
(12th) Liversedge vs. North Ferriby (5th)
(6th) Newton Aycliffe vs. Stocksbridge Park Steels (17th)
(7th) Pontefract Collieries vs. Bridlington Town (16th)