Kittrick: Play-off run is not too late

By Jon Couch

TASK: Belper boss Steve Kittrick

STEVE KITTRICK has vowed to turn around fortunes at struggling Belper Town – and has targeted a play-off place.

The Nailers won just one of their opening eight matches in the NPL Premier this season – arun which saw them part company with boss Grant Black last Sunday after over four years in charge.

Now they have turned to experienced boss Kittrick, who knows the league well from his time in charge of Scarborough Athletic, Matlock Town and Guiseley.

“I’m looking forward to getting started tomorrow,” he said ahead of his first game in charge against Ashton United yesterday.

“Belper is a well-run club with fantastic facilities. The fan base is excellent so I would like to ask you all to get behind the lads and help us get out of the sticky patch we seem to find ourselves.

“We want to push on up the table towards the play-off positions.”

If anyone is up to the task of scaling a division from bottom to top then it’s Kittrick, having completed the feat with Scarborough in his first season in charge with the Seadogs.

Earlier in his career, he had spells at Ossett Town and AFC Telford United before joining Guiseley where, in a six-year rein, he gained promotion to the Conference North in 2009/10 and reached the quarter-finals of the FA Trophy.

A brief spell in charge of Belper’s Derbyshire neighbours Matlock Town followed his Scarborough stint before KIttrick returned to Guiseley in April 2022 and almost saved the club from relegation in National League North from an almost hopeless position.

Kittrick will be joined at the Raygar Stadium by Luke Potter, who played in the Football League with Barnsley and has enjoyed a number of managerial and coaching roles, holding a UEFA A Coaching Licence.

Nailers chairman Ian Woodward added: “I’m delighted to bring in a manager of Steve’s experience and qualities and I’m sure that with his knowledge of the non-league game, he can start to turn things around for the club.”