The Opposition - Key Facts
Full name: Anstey Nomads Football Club
Nickname: The Nomads
Founded: 1946
Ground: Cropston Road
Capacity: 1,000
Chairman: Tony Blanchard
Manager: Conrad Logan (since October 2025)
Last season: 3rd/21 (NPL Midlands)
Journey distance: 36 miles

The Opposition - History
The club was established in March 1946 by a merger of Anstey Methodists and St Mary's under the name Anstey Meths and Mary's. They joined the Central Division of the Leicestershire Senior League, Anstey Methodists having been members of the league prior to World War II. The new club were Central Division runners-up in their first season. In January 1947 the club was renamed Anstey Nomads,[2] and when the league was reorganised in 1948, they were placed in Division One.

In 1951–52 Anstey won Division One, a feat they repeated in 1953–54. In 1955 the club also started playing in Division One of the Central Alliance, and left the Leicestershire Senior League at the end of the 1955–56 season. For 1956–57 the club were placed in Division One South of the Central Alliance, where they remained until being transferred to Division One North in 1958. A year later they were moved back to Division One South. The club finished bottom of the division in 1960–61, but with several clubs leaving the league, they were placed in the new Premier Division. In 1967 the club switched to the Premier Division of the East Midlands Regional League.

In 1973 Anstey rejoined the Leicestershire Senior League and were placed in Division Two. They won the division at the first attempt, earning promotion to Division One. After finishing as runners-up for three successive seasons from 1979 to 1981, the club won back-to-back titles in 1981–82 and 1982–83. They were runners-up again in the renamed Premier Division in 1985–86 and 1990–91, with their next title coming in 2008–09, resulting in promotion to the East Midlands Counties League. At the end of the 2017–18 season, the club were transferred to Division One of the United Counties League.

Anstey's first season in the United Counties League saw them finish as runners-up in Division One, earning promotion to the Premier Division. When the league's top division was split in two in 2021, the club were placed in the Premier Division North. In 2022–23 they were Premier Division North champions, resulting in promotion to Division One Midlands of the Northern Premier League, as well as winning the League Cup with a 3–0 win over Deeping Rangers in the final. The following season saw them finish as runners-up in Division One Midlands, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. After beating Quorn 3–1 in the semi-finals, they lost the final 2–0 to Harborough Town. A third-place finish in the division in 2024–25 was followed by a play-off semi-final loss to Worcester City.

The Opposition - This Season
The Nomads kicked off the season with a win but then lost three on the bounce including an early FA Cup exit to Sherwood Colliery.
Things got much better after that, with an eight game unbeaten run but October then saw two defeats out of three including a Belper win in Leicestershire.
After defeat to the Nailers they won each of their next seven games to cement their place near the top of the NPL Midlands.
In all the unbeaten run stretched to 12 matches, ended at Racing Club Warwick just after Christmas and a fantastic win at Hartlepool United in the FA Trophy. Halifax Town ended that great run on the 13th of January and that remains their last defeat, with three wins and two draws from the league fixtures they have played since.

League (5th/22): P 26 W 15 D 6 L 5 F 41 A 24 Pts. 51
Cups: P 8 W 6 D 0 L 2 F 18 A 10
FA Cup: Exited at Preliminary Round (Sherwood Colliery)
FA Trophy: Exited at Fourth Round (Halifax Town)
County Cup: Still in (Ashby Ivanhoe in next round)

Top goalscorers (NPL only): Liam Murphy (8), Courey Grantham (6)
Most appearances (NPL only): Various (26)
Biggest victory: 4-0 vs. Shepshed Dynamo (6th September) and Stratford Town (25th October)
Heaviest defeat: 0-4 vs. Halifax Town (13th January)
Highest home attendance: 628 vs. Corby Town (27th September)
Average home attendance (NPL): 356 (7th/22)
Most consecutive wins: 7
Most games without a win: 3
Most consecutive defeats: 3
Most games without a defeat: 12

The Nailers
Belper had a great start to the NPL campaign, not losing until matchday ten but did exit the FA Cup at the first hurdle, Kidsgrove Athletic winning in Staffordshire.
There was an early exit from the FA Trophy as well, Rugby Town coming from two goals down to win 3-2 and the league form was up and down after this match, with two wins followed by two defeats and then another two wins before a draw and a defeat!
November was much better with three wins from four matches and the concession of just a single goal.
December started well with four further matches without defeat but it ended with reversals to St. Neots Town and Long Eaton United.
The Nailers have struggled to get any momentum in 2026, with a draw at home to Basford United on New Year's Day followed by a win in the County Cup but then an NPL defeat to Corby Town.
After ending Wellingborough Town's fantastic run with victory in Northamptonshire, Belper drew at home to Coleshill Town and slipped to a 3-1 defeat at Carlton Town on Saturday but midweek saw a comprehensive win at Rugby Town.
Appearances wise, two players - Kev Bastos and Curtis Burrows - have appeared in every match this season.
In terms of goals, Bastos leads the way with ten, closely followed by Liam Moran and Jacob Gratton with nine. Jacob Fenton scored four before his move away from the Raygar Stadium while four players sit on four goals. Five players have three goals or fewer.

Head to Head
The two sides have met on five occasions, all Central Alliance League fixtures in the 1950s until this season and Belper are unbeaten in the fixture.
The first was a 1-1 draw in Anstey before Belper won the return fixture 4-1.
Three seasons later the spoils were once again shared in Leicestershire however the Nailers recorded an incredible 9-0 win at Christchurch Meadow, Albert Litchfield with a hat trick.
The next meeting wouldn't arrive until October 2025. Jacob Gratton opened the scoring for Belper before Liam Moran secured the points deep into stoppage time.

Overall, from a Belper perspective the record reads: P 5 W 3 D 2 L 0 F 19 A 5.
(4 x Central Alliance, 1 x NPL)

Form Guide (all competitive matches)
Belper Town: WLWDLW
Anstey Nomads: LWDWDW

Team News
Full team news will be announced at 2:45pm.

Permutations
Belper can move back up to 2nd place if they better Basford United's result.
Anstey are level on points with the Nailers and behind by one goal but they do have four games in hand. They need to win to leapfrog us and likewise will also topple Basford if they fail to win.
Coleshill are five points behind both sides so 4th is the lowest either side will be at full-time.

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

Saturday, 14th February 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 Joey 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
Third against fourth makes the Raygar Stadium fixture the highlight of the action in the NPL Midlands.

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