Impact Arena to host Integro final

The Derbyshire home of the National League North's Reds and former Northern Premier League club was unveiled on Wednesday as the venue for this season's showpiece final between Atherton Collieries and Coalville Town on Wednesday 2 May.

In a statement announcing the date and venue, officials confirmed that the successor to 2017 winners Bamber Bridge will be decided on penalties with no extra-time played on the night if the clubs are still level after normal time.

Both clubs reached the final with impressive away victories in the semi-finals, EVO-STIK League North Atherton winning 4-1 at Hednesford Town and the Premier Division's Ravens 3-2 at title-chasing South Shields. Bamber Bridge lifted the trophy for the second time in the club's history last season with a 2-1 victory over Grantham Town at Leek Town's Harrison Park, pictured.

The 2018 final will also see the climax of a season of support from the NPL for the Daniel Wilkinson Foundation since the preliminary round kicked off back in September with adverts in the match programme and promotion in the live commentary of stations covering the action.

Dan's parents Gillian and Barry Wilkinson are also expected to be among the guests of honour at the Impact Arena. Earlier this season, they thanked the EVO-STIK League's clubs and fans for their backing with the foundation more than 80 percent of the way to reaching a first fundraising target of £50,000.

The foundation was founded by the family and friends of the late Shaw Lane defender to raise funds in his name to stop others dying of undetected heart conditions following his tragic death at the age of 24 after collapsing on the pitch during an Integro League Cup clash at Brighouse Town in September 2016.

A former Hull City youth team star, who also turned out for North Ferriby United, Scarborough Athletic, Harrogate Town, Goole Town and Rushall Olympic, Dan passed away after collapsing just under an hour into his side's cup clash and despite the best efforts of medics from both clubs and the emergency services to treat him using Town's own stadium defibrillator and administering CPR.

The defender was later found to have the same disease that caused former Bolton star Fabrice Muamba to retire from football in 2012 after collapsing during an FA Cup tie at Spurs. That incident prompted the Football Association to team up with the British Heart Foundation to subsidise the cost of defibrillators for more than 900 clubs at Steps 1 to 5 following lobbying from a number of competitions including the NPL.

Before the start of the NPL's historic 50th 2017-18 anniversary season, the FA announced that the initiative was being relaunched following its previous success when more than half the clubs in the competition alone took advantage of the subsidy to purchase the life-saving equipment and receive training.

Find out more about The Daniel Wilkinson Foundation via the charity's social media channels and website: Twitter, @dannywilks5; Facebook, thedanielwilkinsonfoundation; Instagram, dwfoundation5; website, thedanielwilkinsonfoundation.org and via email at: contact@ thedanielwilkinsonfoundation.org. To donate, visit: http://mydonate.bt.com/charities/thedanielwilkinsonfoundation

Images courtesy of @evostikleague

Follow us: @evostikleague on Twitter | Facebook www.facebook.com/evostikleague