The Opposition - History
Originally formed in 1918 as Bridlington Central United, they joined the Driffield and District Minor League, soon joining the Driffield and District League.
Eventually reaching the East Riding Amateur League, they won this title on five occasions during the 1950s and a couple of East Riding Senior Cup titles.
Changing name to Bridlington Town FC in 1920, they moved to the Yorkshire League Division Two and finished runners-up in their first season, earning promotion.
Life at the level above was tough and they struggled to break in to the top half of the table.
Fast forward to 1960 and a second place finish was good enough for promotion and the following season saw a trip to the FA Cup First Round where they lost out to Bishop Auckland.
A rivalry emerged in the 1960s with Bridlington Trinity, with Town pipping Trinity to the Yorkshire League title in 1967.
The following year Trinity took the title with Town dropping to third.
In 1982 they joined the inaugural season of the Northern Counties East League and spent four seasons in Division One.
In 1987 they were promoted to the Premier Division despite finishing sixth (several teams resigned in the close season).
They enjoyed some good seasons at this level but were forced to fold at the end of the 1993-94 season.
They returned the following season, with local pub team The Greyhound moving to Town's former stadium Queensgate and adopting Bridlington Town as their name.
Recent years have seen promotion to the NPL following success during the Covid interrupted campaigns but last year they narrowly avoided relegation, finishing 18th.

Manager Mike Thompson took over in January 2025.

A journey of just over 100 miles awaits the Nailers today.

The Opposition - This Season
The Seasiders had a poor start to the season, exiting the FA Cup and Trophy at the first hurdle and not winning until NPL matchday six.
This kicked off a run of four wins in six games to steady the ship but they then slumped to four successive defeats in late October.
Consistency continued to be a problem as good mini-runs were followed by bad ones; after suffering four defeats in a row for the second time they won two before losing three more.
They started 2025 with back to back wins before a run of eight without tasting victory, this ended by wins against Ashington and Pontefract and after defeat at Consett they won three more to go top of the Form Guide and give themselves a great chance of maintaining their NPL status.
This has since been confirmed and they come into today off the back of a Bank Holiday win over Grimsby Borough.

League (17th): P 41 W 14 D 4 L 23 F 50 A 73 Pts. 46
Cups: P 3 W 0 D 1 L 2 F 4 A 6

Top goalscorers: Michael Coulson (12), Danny Earl (9)
Most appearances: Michael Coulson (40), Simon Heslop (36), Sam Kay (35)
Biggest victory: 4-1 vs. Heaton Stannington (22nd March)
Heaviest defeat: 0-5 vs. Newton Aycliffe (1st February)
Highest home attendance: 567 vs. North Ferriby (26th August)
Average home attendance: 317 (12th/22)
Most consecutive wins: 3
Most games without a win: 8
Most consecutive defeats: 4
Most games without a defeat: 4

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 had struggled to get wins over the line, drawing seven out of eight before recent home wins (and clean sheets) against Stocksbridge and Emley.
They were defeated at Cleethorpes last Saturday before bouncing back with a home win on Bank Holiday Monday to come into today with their playoffs fate in their own hands.
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 nine.

Head to Head
The two sides have met on 17 occasions, all league fixtures.
The first three were all draws in the mid 1980s and it wasn't until meeting number eight that the Nailers enjoyed a victory, Craig Smithurst securing the points.
Belper then lost three of the next four but they have bounced back to win the last four including a 5-1 win at Queensgate last season and a 2-0 victory back at the Raygar, both matches taking place in the early part of the season.
Belper won the reverse fixture this season comfortably in August, with a Harry Draper brace and Jacob Gratton on the scoresheet.
The overall record for Belper reads P 17 W 7 D 4 L 6 F 26 A 22.

Form Guide (all comps)
Bridlington Town: WWWDLW
Belper Town: DDWWLW

Team News
Full team news will be announced around 2:00pm but there are no suspensions or major injury concerns.

Permutations
The Nailers will secure a playoff spot with victory. A win combined with a draw or defeat for Stocksbridge would mean a 3rd place finish and a home semi-final.
A Belper win combined with a Stocksbridge win would probably mean a 4th place finish and away semi-final (our goal difference being five behind SPS).
A draw or defeat would mean both Newton Aycliffe and Emley could push us out of the playoff places but a draw would also still be enough to clinch 3rd if SPS lose and both Newton Aycliffe and Emley fail to win.
For Brid, they are safe from relegation and with a win could actually finish as high as 12th although this would require a goal difference swing over Consett.
If Ashington better their result they will drop a place and finish in 18th.

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

Saturday, 26th April 2025 - 3:00pm kick off

Mounting Systems Stadium
Queensgate
Bridlington
YO16 7LN

Admission prices: Adults £8, Concessions £5, Under 16s Free

There are plenty of free parking spaces within the ground.

If you’re travelling by train, Bridlington Station is ¾ of a mile away. Head up Station Approach, left into Quay Road which becomes St John’s Street, right into Queensgate and ground is on right.

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
Most matches are dead rubbers, with the Champions and bottom four decided but the games at Dunston, Emley and Ossett as well as our own will shape positions 3-5 which could end in any number of ways.

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