The Opposition - History
A previous club named Grimsby Borough joined the Supreme Division of the Central Midlands League under the name Grimsby Ross in 1987.
They finished bottom of the division in 1988–89, and were renamed Grimsby Borough at the end of the season. After finishing bottom of the table again the following season, the club dropped into the Lincolnshire League.
In 1990–91 they were Lincolnshire League runners-up, but left the league after finishing fourth the following season.

A new Grimsby Borough club was established in 2003, joining the Lincolnshire League for the 2003–04 season.
After finishing as runners-up in their first season, they joined the Premier Division of the Central Midlands League.
Despite finishing second in their first season in the league, they were not promoted to the Supreme Division. However, after finishing as runners-up again in 2006–07, they were promoted.
In 2007–08 the club finished twelfth in the Supreme Division and were admitted to Division One of the Northern Counties East League.
In 2011–12 they won the league's Wilkinson Sword Trophy.
Although they finished bottom of the division in 2014–15, conceding 161 goals, they were not relegated back to step seven.
A fourth-place finish in 2016–17 saw them qualify or the promotion play-offs. After beating Hallam 3–2 in the semi-finals, they lost 4–2 to Penistone Church in the final.

In 2018–19 Grimsby were Division One champions, earning promotion to the Premier Division. They were Premier Division champions in 2021–22 and were promoted to Division One East of the Northern Premier League.
Last season they finished 11th.
(Source - Wikipedia)

Manager Daniel Barratt has been in charge for a decade now.

A journey of around 86 miles awaits them today.

The Opposition - This Season
Borough started the season with seven of their first eight matches at home but were inconsistent, picking up fine wins over Oadby Town in the Cup and Ossett United in the league, but suffering heavy defeats to Anstey Nomads (Cup) and Bradford (Park Avenue).
They lost to Chasetown on penalties in the FA Trophy (something which the Nailers can relate to) before a decent run in the league was ended by Carlton Town in early October.
After a four game winless run they bounced back with victories over Pontefract and Stocksbridge but Belper's win at the Bradley Football Development Centre kicked off a run of three defeats there.
They have struggled for goals since the turn of the year, scoring more than once in only one fixture, away to Heaton Stannington.
They come into the match today undefeated in two matches, the aforementioned 2-1 win over Heaton Stannington and last weekend's draw at home to Dunston where they scored a late equaliser.
Grimsby are unique in the division in terms of having a 0 goal difference, they have the fourth best defence but have scored the third fewest goals.

League (13th): P 35 W 11 D 10 L 14 F 38 A 38 Pts. 40 *(three points deducted)
Cups: P 4 W 1 D 1 L 2 F 7 A 10

Top goalscorers: Reece York (7), Adam Drury (6), Scott Fenwick (5)
Most appearances: Luis Adlard, Liam Higton and Reece York (38 each)
Biggest victory: 5-0 vs. Ossett United (14th August)
Heaviest defeat: 0-5 vs. Anstey Nomads (17th August)
Highest home attendance: 537 vs. Cleethorpes Town (1st January)
Average home attendance: 196 (21st/22)
Most consecutive wins: 2
Most games without a win: 7
Most consecutive defeats: 3
Most games without a defeat: 5

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.
Five weeks ago saw a thrilling 3-3 draw at Newton Aycliffe while the following Tuesday it was a first goalless draw for nearly a year, at Pontefract.
A month ago the points were shared for the third game in a row as ten-man Belper returned from Consett with a 1-1 draw while March began with a much needed home victory over Garforth Town. Two Saturdays ago it was a second goalless draw in four matches, Bishop Auckland the opponents this time and last weekend the Nailers drew again, 2-2 at Ashington.
Harry Draper is well clear as leading goalscorer with 24 while Luke Rawson picked up 10 before re-joining Stocksbridge and Curtis Burrows sits on eight.

Head to Head
The sides have met on three occasions.
In the opening match of last season, James Cadman opened the scoring for the Nailers before a brace from Kevin Bastos secured a comfortable 3-0 win.
Back at the Raygar Stadium a couple of days before Christmas it was a much closer affair with the match being bookended by goals.
Borough took the lead within the first two minutes but a Ben Rhodes equaliser in the dying seconds meant the points were shared.
Earlier this season a Harry Draper double secured three points for Belper at the Bradley Football Development Centre.
Record for Belper: P 3 W 2 D 1 L 0 F 6 A 1.

Form Guide (all comps)
Belper Town: DDDWDD
Grimsby Borough: DLLLWD

Team News
Full team news will be announced on the day but suspensions and injuries are starting to clear up!

Permutations
Realistically the Nailers can only climb one place. Dunston are three points ahead but have a goal difference 18 higher.
Belper will leapfrog Newton Aycliffe if we pick up a better result than them.
However, the same goes for North Ferriby overtaking us from 6th to 5th, and their goal difference is only one behind ours.
The playoff race is certainly very exciting!
Grimsby Borough are 13th and sit four points above the relegation zone. If results go against them they could drop as low as 17th.
Victory could take them up to 11th but after that Garforth have a seven point cushion.

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

Saturday, 22nd March 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
Game of the day is probably at Newton Aycliffe where Stocksbridge, battling to enter the playoff places, are the visitors.
It's a relegation crunch match at Heaton Stannington where the team above the dreaded line take on the team below it.

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