The Opposition - History
The club was established on 1 July 1899 as Consett Celtic. They joined the Northern Alliance in 1919, and were renamed Consett in 1922. They finished bottom of the league in 1922–23, but were runners-up in 1925–26. At the end of the season all the clubs in the league joined the North Eastern League as members of the new Division Two. They were the first Division Two champions in 1926–27, earning promotion to Division One. However, after finishing second-from-bottom of Division One in 1930–31, they were relegated back to Division Two.

In 1932–33 Consett were Division Two runners-up and were promoted to Division One. After finishing second-from-bottom of Division One in 1934–35, they left to return the Northern Alliance, which had been re-established. However, after two seasons in the Northern Alliance, they rejoined the North Easter League, which was now running with a single division. When the league was suspended in 1939 following the outbreak of World War II, a competition was run with ten clubs, which Consett won. In 1946–47 they finished seventh in the league and subsequently applied for election to the Football League. However, no vote took place and the four clubs up for re-election retained their places in the Football League. The club went on to win the League Cup in 1950–51 and 1953–54.

When the North Eastern League was disbanded in 1958, Consett spent the 1958–59 and 1959–60 seasons in the Midland League, also reaching the first round of the FA Cup for the first time in 1958–59, losing 5–0 at Doncaster Rovers. In 1960 they were founder members of the Northern Counties League; the club were champions in 1961–62, and the league was renamed the North Eastern League in 1962. They finished bottom of the league in 1963–64, with the league disbanded at the end of the season. The club subsequently joined the Wearside League, they were runners-up in 1968–69 and 1969–70, after which the club joined the Northern League. In 1976–77 they finished joint top of the table with Spennymoor United, but lost the championship play-off 3–0 in a match played at Willington. They were later relegated to Division Two after finishing bottom of Division One in 1987–88.

The 1988–89 season saw Consett win Division Two at the first attempt, earning an immediate return to Division One. They won the League Cup in 1994–95 with a 2–0 win over Whitby Town in the final, and in 1996–97 the club reached the first round of the FA Cup for a second time, losing 4–0 at Mansfield Town. The early 2000s saw the club yo-yo between the divisions, as they were relegated in 2002–03, promoted in 2003–04, relegated again in 2004–05 and promoted again in 2005–06 after winning Division Two. They went on to finish as Division One runners-up in 2007–08, 2008–09 and again in 2010–11. In 2019–20 the club reached the final of the FA Vase, losing 3–2 to Hebburn Town in a match that was delayed until May 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2021–22 season they were runners-up in Division One, qualifying for an inter-step play-off against Histon from the level above, which they won 2–1 to earn promotion to Division One East the Northern Premier League.
(Source - Wikipedia)

Manager Jason Miller took the reigns in September 2024.

A journey of around 160 miles awaits the Nailers today.

The Opposition - This Season
The Steelmen had a difficult start to the season, not winning until their ninth match in all competitions and being dumped out of the FA Cup and Trophy at the first hurdle.
They bounced back with consecutive away wins at Bridlington and North Ferriby then picked up their first home win of the campaign against Ashington.
However after this they lost three on the spin and then November started with that crazy afternoon at the Raygar Stadium where Belper picked up a 6-4 win.
They conceded six again only ten days later at Dunston and despite beating Brighouse after that they went down heavily again at home to Cleethorpes.
Things improved slightly as they won three out of four but between Boxing Day and 8th February they went seven without a win - a run ended with victory at Bradford (Park Avenue) on Saturday. On Tuesday night they were defeated 3-1 at Cleethorpes.
Their defence is the leakiest in the league so far, having conceded 67 goals.

League (15th): P 32 W 8 D 11 L 13 F 46 A 67 Pts. 35
Cups: P 2 W 0 D 0 L 2 F 3 A 4

Top goalscorers: Brandon Holdsworth and Isaac Walker (12 each), Wil Shaw (5)
Most appearances: Marc Costello, Calvin Smith and Isaac Walker (34 each), Jordan Patterson (33)
Biggest victory: 2-0 vs. Brighouse Town (16th November) and 3-1 vs. Bradford (Park Avenue) (15th February)
Heaviest defeat: 1-6 vs. Dunston (12th November)
Highest home attendance: 397 vs. Ashington (5th October)
Average home attendance: 324 (11th/22)
Most consecutive wins: 2
Most games without a win: 7
Most consecutive defeats: 3
Most games without a defeat: 4

The Nailers
Belper had a dream start to the season, winning their opening two NPL games and FA Cup opener against Lutterworth Town.
Defeat at Emley was just a minor blip as the Nailers bounced back with wins over Bridlington Town and Sherwood Colliery.
An exit from the FA Cup followed at the hands of Bromsgrove Sporting and then after a fine performance and win at North Ferriby it was disappointment in a home defeat to Cleethorpes Town.
This kickstarted a five game winning run which ended with two poor home performances against Brighouse Town and today's hosts, both matches were lost 2-0.
After a win at Carlton Town came a penalty shootout exit from the FA Trophy at Chasetown and then a crazy 6-4 win over Consett.
This began another good run of four wins in a row but following this Belper failed to win in four.
More back to back wins followed, four again but that run ended on the 14th of January and the Nailers then lost five out of six and conceded 17 goals.
Last Saturday saw a thrilling 3-3 draw at Newton Aycliffe while on Tuesday night it was a first goalless draw for nearly a year, at Pontefract.
Harry Draper is well clear as leading goalscorer with 23 while Luke Rawson picked up 10 before re-joining Stocksbridge and Curtis Burrows sits on seven.

Head to Head
Last season saw the first two meetings between the sides.
On the last day of September, late goals from Kevin Bastos and James Cadman secured victory for the Nailers at the Raygar Stadium.
Back at Consett in February, Bastos was on the scoresheet again, his goal was the only one of the match.
The previous meeting this season, back in November saw a crazy 6-4 win for Belper, Harry Draper scoring four goals for the Nailers.
So Belper come into this match with a 100% record against Consett, albeit from just three encounters.
Record for Belper: P 3 W 3 D 0 L 0 F 9 A 5 (all Step 4)

Form Guide (all comps)
Consett: LDDDWL
Belper Town: LLWLDD

Team News
Jack Broadhead is back from suspension while Ioan Evans will be available for selection ahead of his suspension kicking in during the week.

Permutations
Once again the top two are out of reach - Cleethorpes are nine points ahead now and Emley five.
Only North Ferriby can overtake the Nailers, they are three points back and equal on goal difference.
Consett can climb as high as 12th with a win while if defeated they could be caught by both Pontefract and Heaton Stannington and drop as low as 17th.

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

Saturday, 22nd February 2025 - 3:00pm kick off

Belle View Stadium
Delves Lane
Consett
DH8 7BF

Admission prices: £10 / £7 / £3 (cash only).

There is ample car parking, including spaces for disabled badge holders.

A full Matchday Guide for visitors can be found Here.

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
Game of the day is difficult to call with no real top of the table clash or relegation six pointer.
Table and form guide leaders Cleethorpes have a difficult trip to Garforth who sit just outside the playoffs.

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