Young Nailers suffer first defeat

The hosts went ahead after only six minutes when Finlay Davies hammered a shot past Jack Repton, which the ’keeper knew little about.

Parity was restored after 13 minutes when Josh Bullock latched onto a superb flick-on and sent a left footer just inside the far post.

Sports seemed to threaten every time they launched the ball into the Belper penalty area and their ploy paid dividends again after 16 minutes when leading scorer Yakeef Murphy took a great pass from Lewis Belgrave and flicked the ball past the onrushing Repton.

But, the Nailers continued to show resilience and Brandon Doherty levelled again when he got onto the end of a great flowing move to send the ball into the far corner of the net.

The Nailers just needed to maintain some composure now that they were back on terms but again they were undone by a set piece.

This time Davies was again the scorer, finding himself with a free header after the Belper defence failed to pick him up from a free kick.

And Sports gained a measure of control after 35 minutes when Murtaza Haidary added a fourth goal.

After the interval, the Nailers struggled to find any sort of rhythm as Sports controlled the game for large periods.

But they were handed a lifeline after 70 minutes when Joel Cain fired in from the edge of the penalty area.

And despite some late pressure, the Belper youngsters couldn’t quite get as close again to finding an equalising goal.

Team: Repton, Rodgers, Tidmarsh, Evans, Weston, Higton, Gandola, Cain, Doherty, Taylor, Bullock. Subs: Holloway, Gilbert, Dronfield, Nixon, Parker, Tilley, Brady