The Opposition - History
The original Emley were formed in 1903 and known as Emley A.F.C. until 2002. They relocated to Wakefield in 2000 and were renamed Wakefield & Emley in 2002.
They were subsequently renamed Wakefield-Emley in 2004 before becoming Wakefield in 2006 and were wound up in 2014.
The early days saw membership of the Huddersfield District League, Yorkshire League and Northern Counties East League from where they gained promotion to the Northern Premier League in 1989.
The new club gained promotion to Division One of the NCEL in 2006 and in 2014 they rejected a proposal to merge with Wakefield FC.
2016 saw promotion heartache as they lost the playoff final on penalties to Bottesford Town.
Renamed as Emley A.F.C. from 2019 onwards, they moved to the North West Counties League ahead of the 2019-20 season and were in fourth position before Covid hit and saw the season abandoned.
They then moved back to the NCEL and were top when that season was also abandoned.
However in May 2021 it was confirmed they would be promoted based on their success in the previous two seasons and in 2023 they added the Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup.
In 2022 the FA confirmed that the current club is a continuation of the club which was founded in 1903 and that the club had split with Wakefield FC being a separate entity; subsequently all records and honours were returned to Emley A.F.C.
Last season saw them win the NCEL Premier Division title, bringing them to the NPL Division One East.

Manager Richard Tracey took over in May 2019.

A journey of around 58 miles awaits them today.

The Opposition - This Season
The Pewits started the season in fine form, conceding only four goals in their first ten matches and winning their opening FA Cup and Trophy matches. This run also included a win over Belper on a cold August Tuesday night!
After losing to North Ferriby they embarked on a four game winning run but a goalless draw with Bradford PA began a mini slump of only one win in four.
November finished in much better fashion and December saw a win, draw and defeat.
They were flying at the start of 2025, not losing a match until 25th February as North Ferriby completed the double over them.
Their current run of form is their worst of the season, with only two wins in ten matches and they come here off the back of three successive defeats to Carlton, Ashington and Bridlington.
Today we welcome former Nailer Nathan Curtis back to the Raygar Stadium.

League (5th): P 38 W 21 D 8 L 9 F 54 A 29 Pts. 71
Cups: P 10 W 7 D 0 L 3 F 18 A 8

Top goalscorers: Amir Berchil (16), Luke Parkin (11), Nathan Curtis (7)
Most appearances: Amir Berchil (44), Declan Lambton (43), Nathan Curtis (42)
Biggest victory: 5-0 vs. Wombwell Main (15th October)
Heaviest defeat: 0-3 vs. Newton Aycliffe (21st September), Cleethorpes Town (29th October) and Dunston (1st March)
Highest home attendance: 605 vs. Sheffield (22nd March)
Average home attendance: 468 (2nd/22)
Most consecutive wins: 6
Most games without a win: 4
Most consecutive defeats: 3
Most games without a defeat: 10

The Nailers
Belper started the season well, with three successive victories before defeat at Emley. They bounced back from this with another good mini run before bowing out of the FA Cup at Bromsgrove Sporting.
Late September in to October saw five wins in a row but this run came to a halt with back to back home reversals against Brighouse Town and Newton Aycliffe.
After this it was six unbeaten but the poorest performance of the season at that stage saw Stocksbridge run out easy winners at Bracken Moor.
This once again sparked some form in the Nailers who went seven without defeat before once again successive home defeats ended things, this time against North Ferriby and Ossett United.
Further setbacks against Dunston and Carlton meant it was four defeats in a row at the Raygar Stadium but recent weeks have seen Belper become difficult to beat, although they have also struggled to get wins over the line, drawing seven out of eight before last week's fine win over Stocksbridge.
Harry Draper remains well clear as leading goalscorer with 24 while Luke Rawson hit 10 before his move back to Stocksbridge and Curtis Burrows has eight.

Head to Head
Belper met the original Emley on 17 occasions but endured a terrible overall record against them despite winning three of the first five.
This would be followed by defeat in ten of the next twelve, drawing the other two.
Belper's last victory in the fixture came in November 1984 when they secured a 2-1 win at Christchurch Meadow, with Wetton and Khan on the scoresheet.
The last meeting took place on matchday three of this season when Nat Crofts gave Belper the lead at the Fantastic Media Welfare Ground before Emley fought back to win 3-1.
The overall record for Belper reads: P 18 W 3 D 3 L 12 F 16 A 32.
14 of the games took place in the NCEL, with three in the FA Cup (including a Third Qualifying Round win for Emley in 1997) and one in the NPL.

Form Guide (all comps)
Belper Town: WDDDDW
Emley: LDWLLL

Team News
Full team news will be announced before kick off but Ben Rhodes is due to serve a one match suspension.

Permutations
It's very simple for Belper - a win means they will leapfrog Emley in to 3rd place. This would of course leave Belper in charge of their own destiny in terms of a home playoff semi-final.
A draw would mean Newton Aycliffe could pinch 4th with a win while defeat would also open the door for Stocksbridge and North Ferriby.
For Emley a draw will be enough to guarantee 3rd at full time while if defeated they could slip as low as 5th if Newton Aycliffe win.

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

Saturday, 12th April 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 here at the Raygar as the two teams in the middle of the playoff sandwich go head to head.
Cleethorpes can win the title if they pick up three points at Carlton, the lowest placed team who can still reach the playoffs.
Liversedge are 10 points from safety with 12 to play for, they welcome Bridlington who are one of the teams they can mathematically catch.

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