Ground: 131
Date: Saturday 5th February 2022
Belper Town 3-0 Yaxley
Northern Premier League Division 1 Midlands
Attendance: 418 (official)
Belper Town - History
The original incarnation of Belper Town were founded in 1883, playing in local leagues such as the Derbyshire Senior League, the Mid-Derbyshire League, the Derbyshire Alliance League and the Notts & Derbyshire League before folding midway through the 1911/12 season. After a forty-year absence, the club reformed in its current incarnation in 1951 and joined Division 1 of the Central Alliance League.
The new incarnation of the club won its first silverware in 1959, winning Division 1 North of the Central Alliance League and also winning the Derbyshire Senior Cup for the first time. In 1961, they joined the reformed Midland League and remained there until 1982, despite several seasons of struggle in the late 1960s (including bottom-place finishes in 1969 and 1970). In 1980, they won the Premier Division title twelve months after finishing bottom of the table once more.
In 1982, the Midland League merged with the Yorkshire League to form the Northern Counties East League and they were placed in the Premier Division. The 1984/85 season saw the club win the league title, but three seasons later they finished second-from-bottom. After several more bottom-half finishes, fortunes improved in the 1994/95 season with a 4th-place finish. Two seasons later, they finished as runners-up and were promoted to Division 1 of the Northern Premier League.
After ten seasons at this level, Division 1 split into North and South divisions and the club were placed in Division 1 South. After finishing 8th in their first season in this new league, they finished as runners-up in the 2008/09 having missed out on the title on goal difference. This meant the club competed in the play-offs and they beat Rushall Olympic in the semi-finals before losing to Stocksbridge Park Steels in the final.
The club next reached the play-offs when they finished 3rd in the 2012/13 season, but this time they lost to Stamford in the semi-finals. Twelve months later, they finished 4th and reached the play-offs once more, beating Leek Town in the semi-finals and Mickleover Sports in the final to earn promotion to the Premier Division. Unfortunately, they did not last long at this new level and finished bottom in the 2014/15 season to immediately return to Division 1 level, which is where they have remained ever since.
The original incarnation of the club reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup in the 1887/88 season, losing 2-3 to The Wednesday (who would later become Sheffield Wednesday). In more modern times, the club have reached the 4th Qualifying Round on several occasions, most recently in the 2019/20 season when they beat Sporting Khalsa, Alvechurch, Witton Albion and Rushall Olympic before narrowly losing to Notts County.
Success in the FA Trophy has been more scarce, with the club's best run seeing them reach the 2nd Round in the 2000/01 season when they beat Blakenall before losing to Tamworth. As for the FA Vase, the club were losing semi-finalists in the 1994/95 season: they beat Washington, Willington, South Shields, Falmouth Town and Metropolitan Police before losing 2-4 over two legs to Oxford City (they won the first leg 1-0 at home, but lost 1-3 in the second leg).
My Visit
This was another Yaxley away match I'd had my eye on ever since the fixtures for the season first came out in July. My original plan had been to go there on the train, with the ground being a five-minute walk from the station. However, for budget reasons I instead decided to ask for a lift earlier this week. Before I got confirmation either way on that front, it was surprisingly announced that we would be putting on a coach for this match instead, so I just booked a seat on that and waited for the weekend to come.
In the build-up to the match, I did my research on the club's history on Thursday to get that written up for this entry and also reread the entry on the ground in Mike Bayly's book "British Football's Greatest Grounds" in preparation. Yesterday morning, I woke up earlier than I usually do at weekends after a poor night's sleep, but that had the benefit of giving me more than 2 hours to get myself ready.
We ended up leaving the house just before 11am and I was dropped off at Yaxley's ground a few minutes later to get on the coach, which ended up leaving at around 11:20am to start the long journey to Belper. I spent my time reading and eating the small lunch I'd made myself before we arrived at the ground at around 1:45pm.
From there, we headed into the bar before being led to the boardroom where we received a warm welcome from the Belper officials. Jaffa cakes, lemon drizzle and tea were on offer and we stayed inside for a while, chatting and watching the Kidderminster-West Ham FA Cup on the TV. With around 25 minutes to go before kick-off, I headed outside into the cold to do my circuit of photos, being careful to avoid my camera lens getting wet and ensuring I got good photos of the church near the ground and the East Mill building towering over it.
Once I finished my circuit of photos, I headed into the cover of the main stand with the other Yaxley club officials to watch the first half before heading back into the boardroom at half-time. This time, the food on offer was sandwiches and chips and I had a good portion of the latter to tide me over for the rest of the afternoon.
When we came back out for the second half, I saw that my seat had been taken, so after initially standing at the back of the stand I decided to move further along to find a seat elsewhere on the back row, eventually finding myself sat next to the person providing radio coverage of the match.
Honestly, I was more confident than I would normally be going into this away match, as I had noticed that Belper's form had dipped recently and that their top scorer had recently left to join play-off rivals Stamford. Because of that, I was hoping we could pick up where we left off with last weekend's win and get another decent result, though seeing that we would be starting without an out-and-out striker made me wonder where the goals would come from.
Belper were in control from the start, their direct approach with the ball and quick pressing without it giving Yaxley very little time to settle or get hold of the ball themselves. It took 18 minutes of pressure for Belper to carve out a clear-cut chance though, a cross to the far post forcing Connor Peters to make a series of goal-saving blocks before the ball was eventually cleared. Two minutes later, Belper opened the scoring from a corner, Danny South tapping in from close range after Yaxley keeper William Larkin saved a goalbound header on the line.
It was 2-0 seven minutes later when Derry Robson curled a shot into the top corner from 25 yards after dispossessing Matt Sparrow. The next ten minutes saw Yaxley have their first concerted spell of possession in the match and there was hope of a comeback after Dan Cotton came close to pulling one back. However, that hope was extinguished in the 38th minute when Karl Dimidh dispossessed Peters on the halfway line, ran towards the goal unchallenged and coolly finished below Larkin.
With conditions deteriorating due to the continuing heavy rain, the second half was largely a non-event with few chances for either side. Yaxley's best chances for a consolation goal came through Sparrow before he was substituted, but it was always Belper who looked more likely to score another: their best chance came around halfway into the second half when a low cross was flashed across the goalmouth and blocked on the line for a corner before a Belper player could tap in.
This was another disappointing result on the road for us, albeit once again against strong opposition. Our first half performance really let us down and it was already too late by the time we started to improve in the second half. Credit where it's due for Belper for constantly making life difficult for us by playing direct when they had the ball and by quickly pressing whenever we had it so we couldn't get the time on the ball that we wanted. Also worth noting just how difficult the constant rain made things for both teams as the pitch deteriorated: I imagine that the match wouldn't have gone ahead if the rain started earlier than it did, and I do not envy the work the groundsman is going to have to do to get it ready for the next match (especially as two teams play here).
At full-time, we headed back into the bar to wait for the players and coach to be ready, watching the rugby on the TV while we waited. Eventually, we left the ground at around 6:15pm to begin the long journey back, being wished a safe journey home by a club official as we left the bar to walk to the coach. Apart from a brief stop to allow the players to buy some snacks and alcohol, we made swift progress back home and arrived at our ground again at 8:30pm.
Ten minutes later, I was back in the house and had a shower before having a light late dinner while sorting out my photos. As for my match report, I didn't bother with that until this morning as I had a Discord call with friends in the evening instead.
I'll be groundhopping again next weekend, but I'm not sure where I'll be going after Athletic Newham's removal from the FA Vase for fielding an ineligible player in both the 3rd and 4th Rounds. Then, I'll be watching Yaxley on the road again in two weeks when we visit Shepshed Dynamo in the league.
The Ground
Christchurch Meadow (currently known as the Raygar Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is one of my favourite grounds I have visited this season and a good Step 4 ground. In terms of spectator facilities, the ground has three areas of cover. On the far side is a long seated stand containing 500 seats. Directly behind this is the clubhouse which contains the bar, changing rooms, boardroom and a tea bar.
The other two areas of cover are similarly-sized covered terraces. One is positioned on the near side and is connected to the club shop and a tea hut, while the other is positioned behind the near goal. A small area of uncovered terracing is being built immediately next to the terrace behind the goal and will apparently be open for the very next match here. Besides this, the rest of the ground is open hard standing, with the ground tightly hemmed in on all sides.
What truly makes this ground special is the various backdrops to it, providing wildly different but equally interesting views beyond the ground on each side. Behind the near goal is a view of the town stretching into the hills of the Derwent Valley as well as a view of a small church immediately next to the ground (perhaps it is this church that gave the ground its name?). Behind the far goal is another, more rural view of the Derwent Valley hills. Then, from the main stand you get a view of the East Mill building towering over the ground and providing a unique backdrop to watch football in.
The record attendance at the ground was 3,200 against Ilkeston Town in 1955. The ground is also currently shared by Step 6 side Belper United, though I believe they are in the process of trying to get their own ground built somewhere in the town.
Photos
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