The Opposition - Key Facts
Full name: Coleshill Town Football Club
Nickname: The Colemen
Founded: 1885
Ground: Pack Meadow
Capacity: 2,070
Chairman: Paul Billing
Manager: Harry Harris (since start of 25/26 season)
Last season: 9th/21 (NPL Midlands)
Journey distance: 46 miles

The Opposition - History
Coleshill Town were founded in 1885 as Coleshill & District, playing their first match that November against Acocks Green. Renamed Coleshill Town, they played mainly friendlies until joining the Birmingham Youth & Old Boys League in 1906. After short spells in other leagues, they won the Coleshill Charity Cup and Tamworth Nursing Cup in 1909–10, then joined the Trent Valley League in 1912, finishing runners-up and winning the Chapel End Cup.

Reforming after World War I as Coleshill United, they joined the Sutton & District League and won Division One in 1952–53 and 1954–55. They rejoined the Birmingham Youth & Old Boys League in 1956, earned promotion to the Mercian Division, and later entered the Worcestershire Combination (renamed the Midland Combination) in 1967.

After winning Division Two in 1969–70 but being denied promotion, the club moved to Pack Meadow in 1974 and went up a year later. They won the Walsall Senior Cup in 1982–83 and were Premier Division runners-up in 1983–84, staying in the top flight until relegation in 2000, before bouncing back the next season.

Coleshill won the Premier Division in 2007–08 to reach the Midland Alliance. Joining the new Midland League in 2014, they twice finished runners-up and reached the FA Vase semi-finals in 2016–17. Promotion to the Southern League followed in 2018. After moving to the Northern Premier League Division One Midlands in 2021, they placed fifth in 2022–23, losing to Halesowen Town in the play-off semi-finals.

The Opposition - This Season
The Colemen won three of their first four in all competitions and then after three without a win they had a run of five successive home matches which saw 23 goals including a 0-7 reversal to Hednesford Town in the FA Cup.
October was a good month with five wins from seven and November started with three victories in a row including County Cup progress.
December was just as strong, seeing them go undefeated but 2026 started with a home defeat to Boldmere St. Michaels.
Since then they haven't lost a match, with victory in the Birmingham Cup, a draw at Mickleover and last weekend's victory at home to Rugby Borough.

League (5th/22): P 26 W 13 D 3 L 10 F 30 A 28 Pts. 42
Cups: P 8 W 6 D 0 L 2
FA Cup: Exited at Second Qualifying Round (Hednesford Town)
FA Trophy: Exited at Second Qualifying Round (AFC Rushden & Diamonds)
County Cup: Still in both (play Stafford Rangers in Walsall Cup and Rugby Town in Birmingham Cup)

Top goalscorers (NPL only): Ben Usher-Shipway (5), Taylor Carter-Byrne & Theo Rowe (4)
Most minutes played (NPL only): Daniel Brookes (2,340)
Biggest victory: 3-0 vs. Pershore Town (16th August) and 4-1 vs. Wolverhampton Casuals (4th November)
Heaviest defeat: 0-7 vs. Hednesford Town (13th September)
Highest home attendance: 447 vs. Hednesford Town (13th September)
Average home attendance: 169 (21st/22)
Most consecutive wins: 4
Most games without a win: 4
Most consecutive defeats: 4
Most games without a defeat: 4

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 but the Nailers won their next match, a midweek County Cup game against Long Eaton United.
Two weeks ago saw a disappointing home defeat to Corby Town but last weekend we ended Wellingborough's unbeaten run with victory in Northamptonshire.
Three players can still lay claim to have appeared in every match so far.
Goals wise, Kevin Bastos and Jacob Gratton lead the way with nine while Liam Moran has eight. 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
Before this season the two sides had met just twice, in Belper's promotion season of 2021/22.
Coleshill won 2-0 at the Raygar Stadium in mid-September but the return fixture saw a brace of goals from Jack Gibson on his debut help the Nailers win after they had gone behind to a penalty.
Earlier this season the Colemen came out on top 2-0 at Pack Meadow to inflict the Nailers second defeat in five days.

Overall record for Belper:
(All NPL) P 3 W 1 D 0 L 2 F 2 A 5

Form Guide (all competitive matches)
Belper Town: LLDWLW
Coleshill Town: WWLWDW

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

Permutations
Carlton's advantage at the top is 17 points and with 15 games remaining it is looking increasingly unlikely they will be caught.
Belper's lead over Anstey in 3rd is just one goal so Belper need to equal or better their result to stay above them, although Basford United will leapfrog both sides if they win and Belper & Anstey fail to.
Coleshill were in 21st after matchday eight so it's testament to how well they've done since that victory to come in today's match in 5th position. They cannot climb a place as they are four points behind Basford United but they do have a game in hand.
The tight nature of the table means they could be caught by as many as six teams if they are defeated.

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

Saturday, 31st January 2026 - 3:00pm kick off

Raygar Stadium
Bridge Street
Belper
Derbyshire
DE56 1BA

Admission prices: Adults £11, Concessions £7, U16s £0
Please note U16s must be accompanied by a paying adult if they do not hold a BTFC Season Ticket or Youth Membership.

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