The Opposition - History
Carlton Town were originally formed in 1904 as Sneinton Football Club and enjoyed considerable success in their early years.
The Notts Alliance League was secured in four out of five seasons between 1905 and 1910 and in the 1920s they added a Notts Alliance Cup and Carlton and District Charity Cup as they rebuilt after losing several players during World War I.
They became champions of the Notts Spartan League in 1933 but then had to disband ahead of World War II.
Reforming in 1947, they moved to Division Three of the Notts Amateur League and a decade later they were playing in Division Two.
The 1960s saw Sneinton struggle for players and it wasn't until 1985 that they secured further silverware, winning the Notts Alliance League Division Two.
In to the 90s and the club moved to its current home, the Bill Stokeld Stadium in Gedling and joined the Central Midlands Football League.
The name change to Carlton Town came in 2002 to reflect the fact that Gedling had historically been in a parish named Carlton-le-Willows, forming part of the Carlton Urban District.
By 2007 they had reached the NPL Division One South and they have remained at that level ever since, reaching the Playoffs on two occasions but finishing in 18th or 19th in five successive seasons, avoiding relegation on one occasion due to ground grading issues at AFC Mansfield.

Manager Tommy Brookbanks, the most successful in their history returned to the club in May 2019 for another stint in charge, jointly with Mark Harvey.

A journey of around 25 miles awaits them today.

The Opposition - This Season
The Millers started the season in somewhat inconsistent form, defeating Bridlington before drawing with Sheffield and coming unstuck at Cleethorpes.
However while they took a while to get going in the NPL they defeated Step 3 Stamford in the FA Cup before edging Rugby Town on penalties in the FA Trophy.
October saw back to back wins but then consecutive defeats including when Belper won at the Bill Stokeld on the 22nd.
November was a poor month, with no victories and just a single point collected, at Ossett United and it also saw them exit the Nottinghamshire Senior Cup.
The festive period was much improved other than Boxing Day which remains their only defeat since 30th November.
They come in to the match today off the back of successive 1-1 draws with Consett and Grimsby Borough.

League (10th): P 27 W 10 D 8 L 9 F 40 A 39 Pts. 38
Cups: P 6 W 2 D 1 L 3 F 7 A 6

Top goalscorers: Lamin Manneh and Nathan Watson (9 each), four players on four goals
Most appearances: Daniel Brown (33), Felix Annan, Michael Ford and Dean Freeman (32 each)
Biggest victory: 5-1 vs. Bishop Auckland (24th August)
Heaviest defeat: 0-4 vs. Emley (19th October)
Highest home attendance: 352 vs. Stocksbridge (9th November)
Average home attendance: 221 (17th/22)
Most consecutive wins: 2
Most games without a win: 7
Most consecutive defeats: 3
Most games without a defeat: 5

The Nailers
Belper started the season well, winning their first three matches before coming unstuck at Emley.
They bounced back with another couple of wins before Bromsgrove Sporting ended the FA Cup run in a replay.
An excellent performance and win at North Ferriby was followed by a home defeat to leaders Cleethorpes Town but a run of five successive wins followed.
Successive home defeats to Brighouse Town and Newton Aycliffe in the space of five days provided a setback but this once again propelled the Nailers who won five out of their next six before a poor performance at Stocksbridge.
A penalty shootout win over Glossop North End in the Derbyshire Senior Cup followed and then after no draws in the league in their first 18 games, matches with Garforth and Brighouse both finished all square.
Belper were one of the form teams in the league over the festive period, enjoying comfortable wins over Heaton Stannington, Sheffield FC and Sherwood Colliery and they were on the right end of a nailbiter at Bradford (Park Avenue) in the first away game of 2025.
Recently the Nailers went four without a win as both North Ferriby and Ossett won at the Raygar Stadium in the NPL before heavy defeats at Buxton in the Derbyshire Senior Cup and at home to Dunston back in the league. However last weekend saw a return to winning ways when captain Jack Broadhead secured the points late on at Liversedge.
Harry Draper is well clear as leading goalscorer with 22 while Luke Rawson has 10 and Curtis Burrows sits on seven.

Head to Head
This fixture has become a regular one in recent years, having been played 26 times despite the first meeting being as recently as 2007.
Belper enjoyed the better of the early encounters, winning 7 out of the first 11.
This included, in the 2011/12 season a 4-2 Doodson Sports Cup victory which was followed up just over a week later with a 5-4 FA Trophy victory, a match where the Nailers were 2-1 down at half time but battled back in the second half.
After this the Millers went on a five match unbeaten run against us, ending in 2017. Carlton won heavily at the Bill Stokeld in February 2018 but Belper won the next four.
In April 2022 Carlton threatened to derail Belper's promotion push (but didn't) and last season a Cam Johnson goal wasn't enough to stop the points staying in Nottinghamshire before later in the season the Nailers ran out 4-0 winners at the Raygar Stadium.
Earlier this season a Harry Draper brace helped Belper to a 2-1 win in Nottinghamshire.
Overall, from a Belper perspective the record reads: P 26 W 14 D 3 L 9 F 50 A 43.
All of those matches bar two (Cup) have been Step 4 league fixtures.

Form Guide (all comps)
Belper Town: WLLLLW
Carlton Town: WLWWDD

Team News
There are no major injury concerns or suspensions.

Permutations
Midweek wins for Cleethorpes and Emley saw both teams overtake Belper and send us down to third.
To reclaim top spot the Nailers require a win coupled with defeat for Cleethorpes and a draw or defeat for Emley.
They cannot be caught from behind today with North Ferriby five points back (albeit they have one game in hand).
The visitors cannot climb a place, coming into the game four points behind 9th placed Stocksbridge.
Anything less than victory leaves the door open for Grimsby Borough and Bishop Auckland to leapfrog them - both are at home today.

Match details
Belper Town vs. Carlton Town
Northern Premier League Division One East

Saturday, 8th February 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
Cash and card accepted on the turnstiles.

Follow the match
Full coverage of the match:

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

NPL East fixtures
There's a huge game at the bottom where Sheffield, 12 points from safety entertain Sherwood Colliery.
Dunston have a chance to consolidate their playoff position on Friday night when they travel to Heaton Stannington for a north-east derby.

Friday
(21st) Heaton Stannington vs. Dunston (5th)
Saturday
(3rd) Belper Town vs. Carlton Town (10th)
(12th) Bishop Auckland vs. Garforth Town (7th)
(18th) Bridlington Town vs. Cleethorpes Town (1st)
(13th) Consett AFC vs. Newton Aycliffe (6th)
(2nd) Emley AFC vs. Bradford (Park Avenue) (8th)
(11th) Grimsby Borough vs. North Ferriby (4th)
(17th) Liversedge vs. Brighouse Town (20th)
(14th) Pontefract Collieries vs. Ashington AFC (15th)
(22nd) Sheffield vs. Sherwood Colliery (19th)
(9th) Stocksbridge Park Steels vs. Ossett United (16th)