The Opposition - Key Facts
Full name: Corby Town Football Club
Nickname: The Steelmen
Founded: 1948
Ground: Steel Park
Capacity: 3,893 (577 seated)
Chairman: Stevie Noble
Manager: Leon Mettam (interim since December 2025)
Last season: 2nd/21 (NPL Midlands)
Journey distance: 65 miles

The Opposition - History
Corby Town FC was founded in 1948, succeeding Stewarts & Lloyds as the town’s main club and joining the United Counties League, where they won consecutive titles in 1950–51 and 1951–52 before moving to the Midland League. They made their first FA Cup appearance in 1954–55, losing to Watford. After joining the Southern League in 1958, Corby repeatedly applied for Football League status during the 1960s without success, though they reached the FA Cup third round in 1965–66 after beating Luton Town.

Relegation followed in 1967–68, and the club moved through various league restructures over the following decades. After relegation in 1990, Corby bounced back a year later and continued shifting divisions due to reorganisations. They won the Southern League Premier Division in 2008–09, earning promotion to Conference North, and reached the FA Cup first round again in 2010–11 and 2011–12.

Relegated in 2012–13, they were champions again in 2014–15 but dropped back down the next season. Further league transfers followed due to non-League restructuring, and in 2024–25 Corby finished runners-up in the Northern Premier League Division One Midlands, losing 2–1 to Worcester City in the promotion play-off final.

The Opposition - This Season
The Steelmen had a great start to the season, winning their opening six games in all competitions.
After defeat to Rugby Borough they embarked on another five match unbeaten run.
A busy October saw three further wins, including the late show against Belper at Steel Park as well as progression in the FA Trophy.
November started with defeat at home to Carlton but then a remarkable 9-3 win over Northampton Sileby Rangers in the County Cup.
Their form since then has been slightly more inconsistent, not helped by a managerial departure in December, the match following which was lost 7-0 and they come into the match today having not played since New Year's Day, a 3-1 defeat at home to AFC Rushden & Diamonds.

League (8th/22): P 24 W 11 D 4 L 9 F 32 A 33 Pts. 37
Cups: P 10 W 7 D 1 L 2
FA Cup: Exited at First Qualifying Round (Gainsborough Trinity)
FA Trophy: Exited at First Round (Spalding United)
County Cup: Still in (play Wellingborough Town in semi-final)

Top goalscorers (NPL only): Tyrone Lewthwaite (8), Tendai Daire (5)
Most minutes played (NPL only): Jordan Crawford (1,815)
Biggest victory: 9-3 vs. Northampton Sileby Rangers (4th November)
Heaviest defeat: 0-7 vs. Long Eaton United (20th December)
Highest home attendance: 867 vs. AFC Rushden & Diamonds (1st January)
Average home attendance: 544 (2nd/22)
Most consecutive wins: 6
Most games without a win: 5
Most consecutive defeats: 2
Most games without a defeat: 6

The Nailers
Belper started the season with back to back wins before coming unstuck in a home FA Cup tie against Kidsgrove Athletic.
After this came a six match unbeaten run, ended with another cup defeat, this time an FA Trophy reversal at Rugby Town.
Once again Lee Attenborough got the response he wanted, with back to back NPL wins being secured.
After this however they lost two on the spin before flipping their form back on its head again to defeat Anstey Nomads and AFC Rushden & Diamonds.
A draw at Racing Club Warwick followed before two late Corby Town goals consigned us to defeat on the road.
That was the last time Belper tasted defeat, with five wins and three draws since in all competitions.
A Jacob Gratton penalty and thunderbolt finish from James Tague secured the points at Bourne Town.
The following Tuesday saw the Nailers progress to the quarter-finals of the Derbyshire Senior Cup with 4-2 home win over Belper United while four days later Tague was on the scoresheet again as we shared the points at Bedworth United.
The next match was another draw at home to Shepshed Dynamo but after getting back to winning ways against Coventry Sphinx, St. Neots Town took the points away from the Raygar Stadium the following Saturday.
After successive defeats to St. Neots Town and Long Eaton United, the ship was steadied with a New Year's Day draw at home to Basford United.
The following match was postponed and the Nailers come into the match today off the back of a midweek County Cup win over Long Eaton United.
Three players can still lay claim to have appeared in every match so far.
Goals wise, Kevin Bastos leads the way with nine while Jacob Gratton has seven and Liam Moran six. Jacob Fenton collected five before his move away from the Raygar Stadium while Jack Broadhead, Ben Rhodes and another departed player James Tague have scored four. A further six players have three goals or fewer.

Head to Head
The two sides have met on eight occasions and it's been a game of two halves so far, with the Steelmen winning the first four but the Nailers victorious in three of the last four.
It started in 1976 with an FA Trophy match at Corby which the hosts won 1-0.
It would be 16 years before the sides met again, a Floodlit Cup match where Corby scored four goals without reply.
The FA Trophy draw threw up the tie once again in 1999, again at Corby and they won this match 2-1.
The biggest margin of victory came in 2017 when the Nailers came home with their tail between their legs after a 5-0 NPL defeat.
Belper in recent years have managed to improve their record in the fixture, winning the return match that season 1-0, then repeating the score in December 2021.
In April 2022 the Nailers won 2-0 at the Raygar Stadium, Derry Robson and Tom Wilson on the scoresheet for Belper.
The most recent meeting was back in October at Steel Park when Jonathan Wafula gave the Nailers a first half lead but the hosts equalised in the 87th minute and won it in the 99th.

Overall record for Belper: P 8 W 3 D 0 L 5 F 6 A 14
(2 x FA Trophy, 1 x EH Floodlit Cup, 5 x NPL)

Form Guide (all competitive matches)
Belper Town: DWLLDW
Corby Town: WDLLWL

Team News
Full team news will be announced at 2:15pm.

Permutations
A win would guarantee 2nd place at full time. A draw is likely to be enough with a big goal difference advantage over the two teams below us.
Defeat would open the door for Basford United to go above us while Racing Club Warwick would need to make up 11 goals in the process.
The gap to Carlton Town at the top is 11 points and they also have a game in hand.
Corby could leap from 8th to 5th with a win and favourable results elsewhere but anything less could see them drop as low as 12th.

Match details
Belper Town vs. Corby Town
Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands Division

Saturday, 17th January 2026 - 3:00pm kick off

Raygar Stadium
Bridge Street
Belper
Derbyshire
DE56 1BA

Admission prices: Adults £11, Concessions £7, U11 (with accompanying adult) £0

Follow the match
Full coverage of the match:

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

NPL Midlands fixtures
The game at the Raygar Stadium is one of the more intriguing fixtures, being one of four fixtures between two sides in the top half.
In Derby, Mickleover and Coleshill Town are in a scrap to enter the playoffs while Long Eaton's trip to Racing Club Warwick is another interesting matchup with the Nottinghamshire side on a run of three straight NPL wins while Racing have climbed from 21st to 4th since matchday eight.

(13th) Rugby Borough vs. Bedworth United (22nd) 2pm kick off
(14th) AFC Rushden & Diamonds vs. Sutton Coldfield Town (15th)
(5th) Anstey Nomads vs. Coventry Sphinx (18th)
(2nd) Belper Town vs. Corby Town (8th)
(19th) Boldmere St. Michaels vs. Rugby Town (17th)
(10th) Lichfield City vs. Wellingborough Town (9th)
(21st) Loughborough Students vs. Basford United (3rd)
(6th) Mickleover FC vs. Coleshill Town (7th)
(4th) Racing Club Warwick vs. Long Eaton United (11th)
(12th) Shepshed Dynamo vs. Bourne Town (20th)
(16th) St. Neots Town vs. Carlton Town (1st)