Nailers pushed all the way by Kidsgrove

An injury to first choice ‘keeper Jack Repton gave understudy Morgan Mighty a rare start and he went on to endure a mixed display on a bitterly cold afternoon at the Marston’s Stadium.

Belper got off to a perfect start when they took the lead after just 3 minutes when Scott Taylor latched onto a superb through ball from Dan Watson before expertly directing his shot past visiting ‘keeper Kaylem Beardmore.

With the wind at their backs, the Nailers continued to play on the front foot and they doubled their lead after 30 minutes when Josh Bullock reacted quickest to a Josh Craddock corner and fired the ball into the roof of the net from eight yards.

Just when it looked plain sailing for the Belper youngsters they were rocked back when Morgan Mighty allowed a weak shot to squirm under his body and despite a heroic attempt at a clearance, ‘Grove leading scorer Javari Campbell forced the ball over the line

Now it was Kidsgrove’s turn to have the elements in their favour and they soon had the Nailers backpedalling under a succession of attacks.

Sensing a lack of confidence in the Belper defensive lines, the visitors launched a succession of lofted balls into the Nailers penalty area.

From one of these, Campbell lobbed the ball over Morgan who could only watch helplessly as the ball landed on top of the unguarded net.

But Belper continued to counterattack affectively and Craddock missed the target by a whisker after he volleyed a superb Scott Taylor cross past Beardmore.

The loss of Nailers skipper Sam Weston with a back injury only intensified the pressure on the home defence and Mighty twice redeemed himself with good saves to maintain Belper’s narrow advantage.

Despite a generous nine minutes of added time, Kidsgrove couldn’t quite find the key pass that they needed to unlock the Nailers defence as Belper held on for the points

Belper Town: Mighty, Gandola, Rathband, Craddock, Weston, Higton, Bullock, Cain, Camm, Watson, Taylor. Subs: Rodgers, Hall, Dronfield, Bradbury, Patrick, Walker, Repton.

Kidsgrove Athletic: Beardmore, Sanders, Spooner, Forrest, Biddulph, Arnold, Brammer, Allerton, Campbell, Bebbington, Richings. Subs: Burton, Love=Moore, Roberts, Beech.

Referee: Mark Hutton (Derby)