The Opposition - Key Facts
Full name: Grantham Town Football Club
Nickname: The Gingerbreads
Founded: 1874
Ground: South Kesteven Sports Stadium
Capacity: 7,500 (750 seated)
Chairman: Nick Johnston
Manager: Mitch Griffiths
Last season: 3rd/20 (UCL Premier North) (Promoted via playoffs)
Journey distance: 50 miles

The Opposition - History
Founded in 1874 as Grantham Football Club, the club became founder members of the Central Alliance in 1911, winning the competition in 1924–25 before joining the Midland League.

Grantham enjoyed significant success in the 1960s and early 1970s, winning the Midland League three times. After their 1971–72 title, they were promoted to the Southern League.

In 1972–73, Grantham reached the FA Cup third round, defeating Hillingdon Borough and Rochdale before losing to Middlesbrough in front of a record 6,578 crowd. They also finished Southern League Premier Division runners-up.

Renamed Grantham Town in 1987, the club won the Southern League Midland Division in 1997–98 and later returned to the Northern Premier League Premier Division.

Relegated in 2021–22 and again in 2024–25, Grantham responded immediately in 2025–26. They finished third in the United Counties League Premier Division North before beating Belper United 3–2 and Newark Town 2–0 in the play-offs to secure promotion.

The Opposition - This Season
The Gingerbreads had a tough start to the season, going out of the FA Cup to Lincoln United and not winning until matchday four in the NPL.
They then exited the FA Trophy at the first hurdle but won two out of their next three league games.
After a thrilling 3-3 draw at Sutton Coldfield Town they were beaten 5-0 at Nuneaton Town then slipped out of the County Cup at home to Bourne Town.
They bounced back to defeat Shepshed Dynamo but come in to the match this evening off the back of successive reversals against Bedworth United and Coleshill Town.

League (9th/22): P 12 W 4 D 3 L 5 F 20 A 22 Pts. 15
Cups (90 minutes): P 3 W 0 D 0 L 3 F 1 A 7
FA Cup: Eliminated by Lincoln United in Extra Preliminary Round
FA Trophy: Eliminated by Mickleover FC in First Qualifying Round
County Cup: Eliminated by Bourne Town in First Round

NPL Stats
Top goalscorers: Louis Czerwak (8), Ryan Rushen (4)
Most minutes played: Jack Steggles (1,170), Lee Shaw (1,146)

Overall stats
Biggest victory: Two goal victories on three occasions
Heaviest defeat: 0-5 vs. Nuneaton Town (22nd September)
Highest home attendance: 534 vs. AFC Rushden & Diamonds (12th September)
Average home attendance: 401 (5th/22)
Most consecutive wins: 1
Most games without a win: 4
Most consecutive defeats: 2
Most games without a defeat: 2

The Nailers
Belper started with successive goalless draws before succumbing to a home defeat at the hands of Coventry United.
They gained some traction with back to back wins against Boldmere St. Michaels in the NPL and Rugby Town in the FA Cup but then lost four in a row, albeit playing well enough to deserve more, and including defeat at the hands of Step Three Evesham United, against whom there was only one goal in the match until the 89th minute.
The following Saturday saw a fantastic performance - and some luck - with a comfortable 3-0 win away to Boston Town.
However back at the Raygar Stadium, Rugby Borough won comfortably and the Nailers then secured successive 1-1 draws.
Three days ago a much needed win was collected as Bedworth United were defeated.

Most appearances: Six players have appeared in all 14 matches so far, with two playing every minute (Kieran Preston and Louis Keenan)
Top goalscorers: Harry Draper (6), ten players on one goal

Head to Head
Grantham Town, formerly Grantham FC are one of Belper's most faced opponents, with the two sides facing each other 40 times since 1961.
Belper enjoyed the better of the early matches, scoring five goals in two of the first three encounters.
However, after this Grantham would win 14 of the next 21 with Belper coming out on top on just four occasions.
Crowds regularly exceeded 1,000 in those Midland League days and the record attendance came in April 1964 when 2,616 saw a match at Grantham.
After 1972, it was 16 years before the sides met again with Belper winning a Evans Halshaw Floodlit Cup fixture.
After this, games between the two became more frequent again.
The most recent meetings came in the 23/24 season. At Grantham, Belper were trailing going in to injury time but goals from Kev Bastos and Phil Watt secured a remarkable victory then in the return fixture Belper romped to a 5-0 win.

Overall record for Belper: P 40 W 11 D 8 L 21 F 65 A 82
22 x Midland League, 1 x EHFC, 1 x Challenge Cup, 14 x NPL, 1 x Presidents Cup, 1 x League Cup.

The return fixture is scheduled for Saturday 12th December.

Form Guide (all competitive matches)
Belper Town: LWLDDW
Grantham Town: DLLWLL

Team News
Full team news will be announced at 7:00pm.

Permutations
The table remains very tightly packed and Belper can climb as high as seven places up to 8th with a win and favourable results elsewhere.
A drop of three places to 18th is the worst outcome if defeated.
For Grantham, they could move up to 5th with victory, while 15th is the lowest place to which they could drop.

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

Tuesday, 6th October 2026 - 7:45pm kick-off

Raygar Stadium
Bridge Street
Belper
Derbyshire
DE56 1BA

Admission prices: Adults £11, Concessions £7, U11s £0

Please note our Under 16s entry policy

Directions and Parking
Information for first time visitors to the Raygar Stadium can be found here

Follow the match
Full coverage of the match:

Audio commentary with James on Belper Town Live
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
Tuesday
(15th) Belper Town vs. Grantham Town (9th)
(7th) Boldmere St. Michaels vs. Bedworth United (8th)
(16th) Loughborough Students vs. Bourne Town (17th)
(5th) Nuneaton Town vs. Boston Town (6th)
(2nd) Wellingborough Town vs. Mickleover FC (12th)