The victory was even more satisfying as the Nailers had to do it with only ten men for three quarters of the game after they lost Declan Dunn in the 22nd minute.

Nailers’ vice-captain Ben Rhodes missed out again as he recovers from injury although he did have the honour of receiving a commemorative salver for reaching one hundred appearances.

Danny South wore the number nine shirt as he took his place on the forward line however Zak Goodson dropped to the bench. Karl Demidh made his first home start after rejoining Belper a week ago.

The Nailers started the game on the front foot and went close to opening the scoring in the 3rd minute when Phil Watt headed over the bar from a Danny South knock on.

Kevin Bastos was lively throughout the game, although his goal drought had lasted seven games before today. His run down the left side culminated in a shot straight at former Nailers’ stopper Tom Jackson.

Curtis Burrows wasn’t far away with an 11th minute free kick, but the Nailers suffered a set back in the 22nd minute when a North Ferriby break was ended by Declan Dunn who then saw red as the referee deemed Ferriby’s Josh Whiteley had been denied a goal scoring opportunity,

The Nailers then lost defender Sidik Atcha through injury and the Villagers put pressure on the Nailers defence as they naturally thought the game was there for the taking.

Belper had other ideas and a South header from Mason Warren’s free kick in the 34th minute seemed to kick start a Belper revival. Karl Demidh latched on to a 39th minute through ball and went on to score past Jackson for his first strike since returning to the Nailers’ fold.

With the first half deep into added time Bastos attacked strongly down the left and crossed to Demidh who almost added to the score with an audacious back heel, but Jackson managed to stop the ball crossing the line.

The Nailers dented hopes of a quick revival for the visitors when the ball came to Bastos on the edge of the penalty area in the 48th minute he and struck a low shot that found the back of the net just inside the near post.

At 2-0 the Nailers were coasting; however, the Villagers had already shown themselves to be a good footballing team and a third goal was deemed necessary more than ideal.

Brodie Litchfield hit a wayward effort from 20 yards and then a mazy run from Bastos on 68 minutes ended with Jackson saving comfortably.

For the remaining 20 minutes or so the visitors finally managed to make their superior numbers count and looked quite dangerous on a number of occasions.

Substitute and former Nailer Luke Hinsley forced Moore into a good save at the foot of the post in the 87th minute, and the visitors were causing the Belper rearguard more and more problems.

Niall Tilsley’s nicely struck volley reduced the deficit well into added time, but it came too late to give Ferriby any chance of getting something from the game.

It was a very satisfying win for the Nailers who played some entertaining football at times and stuck to their task. The majority of the 700 plus crowd went home happy and Belper retained their place in the play off positions.

Belper Town: Moore, Burrows, Warren, Dunn, Atcha (Walker 28), Watt, Cadman, Litchfield, South (Gregory 88), Demidh (Goodson 70), Bastos. Unused subs: Gbehe, Austin

North Ferriby F C:: Jackson, Tarbotton, Morrall, Lovick, Tilsley, Johnson (Hutchinson 84), Berchil (Hinsley 53), Wallis, Corner, Whiteley, Snelgrove (Green 66). Unused subs: Douglas, Dewhurst.

Referee: Edgar Brown

Att: 726