Manager Lee Attenborough made two changes to the team with Burrows and Bastos relegated to the bench with Lewis Austin and James coming in for rare starts.

Skipper Broadhead was also on the bench as he tries to overcome a knee injury that he’s been struggling with over the past few weeks. This meant Wafula slotting in at left back and Keenan moving alongside Evans.

Neither team registered more than a handful of meaningful efforts on goal and as a result it was meagre fare for the 651 crowd.
Belper’s strong opening to the game was quickly nullified when Rugby went ahead with their first attack of the game in the 5th minute.

Aaron Nuttall slid the ball through into the six-yard area where Collins got the slightest of touches to steer it past Preston.

The Nailers had their best opportunities in the first half and Moran saw a quickly taken shot on the turn blocked moments before the Nailers fashioned an equaliser in the 15th minute.

Gratton did the preparatory work on the right before Rhodes swung over a cross from the bye line where Fenton powered a back post header into the far corner of the net.

Moran spurned a golden opportunity in the 42nd minute when the ball bounced favourably to give him a clear run on goal, but Brandon Ganley came out to make an important block.

The Nailers were unable to turn a goalmouth scramble in their favour just before the break and a reorganised Rugby side made life more difficult for Belper in the second half.

A strange incident occurred in the 47th minute when Freeman, on as a half time substitute, and believing he had been fouled, picked the ball up and earned himself a yellow card. Unfortunately, Belper couldn’t take advantage of the free kick.

Belper had the ball in the net on 53 minutes only for the effort to be disallowed, and the Nailers forced two consecutive corners in the last five minutes, both of which Rugby cleared after the ball had ping ponged around the six-yard area.

Neither team could set the game alight in a low key second half and a draw and a share of the spoils was probably just about right.

Belper Town: Preston, Rhodes, Wafula (Burows 70), Fankwe, Keenan, Evans, Tague (Tsolakis 81), Austin, Moran, Gratton, Fenton (Bastos 68). Unused subs: Broadhead, Edwards.

Rugby Borough: Ganley, Myles-Tebbutt, Rowe, Black, Jackson, Collins, Stone (Christofaro 54), Duffy, Kohyrelon (Daire 45), Meikle, Nuttall (Freeman 45). Unused sub: Franca Dias.

Referee: Thomas Hales

Att: 651

Match Sponsor: Fisher German Estate Agents.

Match Sponsor’s Man of the Match: Lewis Austin