Steelmen put Belper to the sword

Haydn Goddard moved to left back in place of Will Dennis, giving Josh Barr-Rostron a start in midfield. New signing Kieran Harrison makes his debut replacing Eric Graves who recently left the club.

The open exchanges lacked great fluency and pace, with both sides gauging one another in their first league meeting since 1992.

Paul Malone had a hat-trick of headed chances. Firstly, one cleared off the line, another straight at Danny Roberts and finally sending the ball wide of the target.

But Malone wasn’t to be denied however, trying his luck with his foot this time to lash a fine effort across Roberts to open the scoring on 27 minutes.

It was that man Malone again who saw his point-blank header saved by Roberts with rebound from Sam Mulready eventually cleared.

Roberts was indeed the busier keeper, next being called into action to stop Jordan O’Brien’s volley.

Belper didn’t learn their lesson, as Malone found space again in the area to poke home his second on 34 minutes.

Bad turned to worse for the Nailers after John Guy’s attempted clearance from O’Brien’s dangerous diagonal looped agonisingly over Roberts for an own goal in the 38th minute.

The Nailers had a point to prove after a poor first half display. With Kieran O’Connell’s rising shot five minutes after the break showed a positivity that was lacking in the first 45.

The momentum soon ended, with Belper needing to throw bodies forward, Jordan Crawford broke from inside his own half into acres of space, cutting in and curling a fine effort.

Everyone in home shirts now wanted a piece of the action, this time Leslie letting fly from range and seeing his effort parried away by Roberts.

Bad turned to worse for the Nailers, as Dominic Allen received his second yellow and a red for blocking off Crawford’s run.

From the resulting free kick on 73 minutes, Jason Lee’s returned header fell into the path of O’Brien who couldn’t miss to put the final nail in the Nailers coffin.

The home side were relentless from the first whistle and looked a side near the summit of the league, deserving of three points.

On the other hand, Anthony Danylyk’s men never looked at the races and lacked any passing rhythm or consistency. Not a single shot on target summed up a disappointing away display.

Corby Town: Wilson, Anton, Warburton, Malone, Lee, Leslie, O’Brien, Bradshaw, Trainer, Mulready (Tanga-Gibson 77), Crawford (Cretu 73). Unused subs: Smith, Kinniburgh.

Belper Town: Roberts, Allen, Goddard, Harrison, Hunt, Guy, Browne (Hunt 75), Barr-Rostron, Hutchinson (Garnett 61), O’Connell, Steadman (Birks 55). Unused subs: Atkinson, Rathbone.

Referee: Andrew Ellis (Solihull)

Att: 402