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Belper Town made
it four league victories on the trot with an excellent victory over local
rivals Gresley Rovers at Christchurch Meadow.
The
Nailers were facing the Moatmen for the third time this season and named an
unchanged side following their recent improvement in league form, which
has seen them win their last three games.
New signing
Richard Tracey was named as a substitute together with Mark and Pete
Smith, while
Gresley were
without top marksman Dave Blenkinsopp who was sidelined with a hamstring
injury and skipper Jamie Hood who was another absentee through illness.
The Nailers
were hoping to repeat their President’s Cup win here at Christchurch
Meadow just three weeks ago and knew that victory would push them to the
fringes of the play off positions.
It was a
tentative start from both sides with the first goal bound effort coming
in the 5th minute from Craig Hanson but it lacked power and
direction.
Andy
Rushbury’s 7th minute free kick needed just a touch to make
David Clarke work harder than needed to, but the ball drifted through
harmlessly.
Danny Hudson
took the ball to the edge of the area in the 9th minute but
hit his shot just past the far post, but the Moatmen took the lead in the
14th minute when Craig Hanson latched on to a long clearance
from Clarke and hit a precise volley over Adam Ogden and into the net.
The Nailers
created a half chance on 21 minutes when Ross Hannah hit a short square
ball to Hudson but he couldn’t keep his shot down, then Gresley were
almost caught on the break when Andy Rushbury sped down the left and Lee
Stevenson fired wide from the resulting cross.
The Nailers
appealed for a penalty kick on 25 minutes following Martyn Chamberlain’s
ungainly tackle from behind on Anthony Wilson but the referee was
unimpressed.
Ross Hannah
had Clarke at full stretch in the 27th minute with a low drive
that look set for the far corner but Clarke just managed to get his
fingers to it.
Belper were a
whisker away from an equalizer in the 36th minute when Hudson
turned to cross from the edge of the area and Krystof Kotylo met it with
a powerful header that shaved the upright.
James
Colliver put over a good cross in the closing seconds of the half but
Wilson nodded the ball just wide, and although Belper had recovered from
their sluggish start to press the Moatmen back into their own half, it
was the visitors who held the advantage at the break.
Colliver gave
Clarke an anxious moment two minutes after the restart with a 30 yard
shot that needed shepherding over the cross bar, then Lee Stevenson tried
his luck from a shorter range but the ball bounced wide.
Wilson will
know he should have done better with a heading opportunity in the 50th
minute when he nodded a looping cross from Hannah well wide of the far
post.
Adam Ogden
came out smartly to intercept the ball between Hanson and Marshall as
Gresley counterattacked on 56 minutes, but the Nailers scored a deserved
equalizer in the 58th minute when Stevenson pounced on a loose
ball 15 yards out and lashed a terrific shot into the corner of the net.
Stevenson hit
a 25-yard free kick high and wide in the 68th minute as the
Nailers endeavoured to get a second
goal, and Richard Tracey’s introduction as a substitute nearly produced
one when he put a dangerous cross into the six-yard area.
Rushbury
almost set up Wilson in the 78th minute after some great work
from Rushbury resulted in an excellent cross into the box, but despite
the Belper striker’s acrobatic effort he could only put the ball over the
bar.
But Belper
had the Gresley defence stretched again in the 83rd minute and
when the ball broke to Andy Rushbury who finished clinically from 8 yards
to put the Nailers in front.
Gresley were chasing
back again on 89 minutes but Stevenson’s cross come shot drifted over the
far angle and out of play, and in the last minute of added on time Wilson
nearly made it three with a good shot on the turn but the ball hit the outside of the post.
Once the
Nailers had shaken off their malaise of the first 20 minutes they were
dominant in this game and were thoroughly deserving of their victory and
supporters went home knowing they’d had full value for their entrance
fee.
Tim
Harrison’s Photo Gallery
Nigel Oldrini
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