Belper had suffered a crazy 10-6 defeat at Moorways against Pride less than a month ago and once again it would be Beth Jones causing all the problems.

In fact it took less than a minute when Ellie-Mae Coleman's cross from the right found Jones and although the shot was mishit and looked to be going over it looped in past Emma Varnam.

Belper responded positively and in the 5th minute a long ball found Alice Faulding who took a touch before shooting but Jade Howell was equal to it.

Within a minute Pride had doubled their lead, Jones the scorer again from 20 yards and history was threatening to repeat itself.

On the ten minute mark it was three, Jones played in and under pressure she found a nice finish in to the bottom corner past Varnam's reach.

Belper heads never dropped and on the quarter-hour a Jess Needham corner found Sammy Bennett but her shot was blocked. From the second corner a goalmouth scramble ended with captain Emma Pickard trying her luck but her shot was also blocked on the line.

Barely another minute had passed before the visitors increased the daylight between the sides, this time a cross from the left by Jessica Page eluded everyone but Aimee Healy-Raynor who fired home to make it four.

What turned out to be Pride's final goal came in the 26th minute when Jones again found herself through on goal and finished calmly.

By this point they already had half of their tally from the Moorways encounter, only a little over quarter of the way through the match.

BTFC Ladies Manager Dom Anderson will be pleased with what followed as Belper shut the door at the back and found a couple of goals of their own.

On the half-hour mark a Hollie Thompson corner on the right fell to Sarah Roberts and she made no mistake, rifling through a crowded six yard box to give Belper a glimmer of hope.

The last action of the half saw a Jazz Buxton free kick go just wide.

Four minutes in to the second half, Belper had a 2nd goal when Faulding was played through, she had to run virtually the entire length of the Pride half but despite lots of time to second guess herself she showed great composure to slide the ball home and it was back to 5-2.

With confidence growing, less than a minute after Faulding's goal, Thompson had a shot from the edge of the box go narrowly wide.

With an hour played, a corner from the right found Steph Eadon but Roberts threw herself in front of the shot to save a certain goal and from the resulting corner Loren Kitching saw her shot go over the bar.

In the 74th minute a free kick by Tash Allderidge produced an excellent save from Varnam.

Some great football by Pride on 79 minutes saw Eadon find Jones but the shot was wide.

Due to a few knocks and rolling substitutes, nearly eleven minutes of injury time were played and in the 8th of them Coleman tried her luck but the shot came crashing back off the bar and Varnam saved it on the line.

The last action in the 100th minute saw Jones have her heels clipped by Layton who was shown a yellow card. The resulting free kick by Allderidge was well saved by Varnam.

All in all from the position after 26 minutes positives have to be taken from the fight shown and the performance of the returning Alex Holland.

Pride just missed out on top spot due to a goalless draw between Amber Valley and Draycott - the visitors needed a home win in that one.

Belper slip a place to 7th due to Buxton picking up a draw and having a superior goal difference.

Alex Holland, back after three months out had this to say: "I think we gave them a bit too much respect in the first 15-20 minutes and it took the goals to kick us in to action and it was too late then. It felt good to be back and I didn't have anything to lose, I was happy to be there and after sitting on the sidelines for the early stages I'd seen what was going wrong and so I knew how to change it and what needed to be done"

Manager Dom Anderson added: "I'm hoping that (Alex's return) will lift the team. We've got players who will feel some hunger from today.
I feel sorry for the team we play next. We know that it was 23 minutes that cost us today and second half they didn't have a sniff and we are defending and attacking set pieces better than we ever have. Everything is in place and we've got a new Assistant in place who is really adding something as well"

Belper Town: Varnam, Pickard (C), Powles, Jackson, Roberts, Bennett, Needham, Dutton, Carnelley, Thompson, Faulding.
Subs: Holland, Amans, Layton, Buxton

Pride Park (squad): Howell, Jones, Wilsoncroft, Kitching, Allderidge, Coleman, Znamirowska, Weaver, Boultbee, Ayton, Healy-Raynor, Laight, Page, Eadon.

Referee: Simon Judson