Wafula surprisingly started after missing two games due to being on holiday, and even more surprisingly Moran was the player to make way despite his strong showing at Rugby Borough last Saturday.

The game started well for the Nailers who had a Burrows free kick well saved, and a Rhodes header go over the bar inside the first four minutes.

Hurley had a glancing header go just over in the 10th minute for the Royals and then Bastos made room for a shot at the other end, but his well struck effort was blocked.

Almost immediately afterwards disaster struck the usually dependable Preston on 18 minutes as he attempted to deal with the ball just outside of the penalty area, and Gibson stole the ball away from him and rolled it into the unguarded net.

The Royals helped Belper out in the 30th minute when Edmunds was shown a second yellow card and a subsequent red after applauding the referee after issuing his first yellow.

The visitors immediately closed ranks and generally shut down the majority of Belper’s efforts for the rest of the game.

De Girolamo showed good skill in the 32nd minute to create an opening but blasted his shot wildly over the cross bar and despite forcing a series of corner kicks in the later stages of the half Wren in the Royals’ goal was relatively untroubled.

Gratton forced a save out of Wren in the early moments after the break, but Belper held their breath as Gibson broke through to guide his low shot inches beyond the far post.

It was almost constant pressure from Belper and the 56th minute the ball fell to Evans and his header was cleared off the line and his follow up shot ballooned over the bar.

Bastos was unlucky with a shot on 66 minutes that might have taken a slight deflection to make the difference between hitting the bar or scoring a goal.

Burrows hit a half chance well over the top then Gibson went close with a header on 74 minutes as the Nailers pushed up and left themselves open to the counterattack.

Royals’ skipper Beresford received a second yellow and subsequent red card on 76 minutes leaving the Nailers with just eight outfield players to face.

Moran was unfortunate that a clever back heel from Shaw’s 80th minute cross didn’t come off, but Belper’s fate was sealed when Fankwe’s stray pass on 87 minutes gave Hurley the almost impossible task of beating Preston from forty yards, but he accomplished the task with a wonderful strike.

It was impossible to understand how Belper could have lost this game with all the advantages they had – but they did and the fans left the ground almost disbelieving what they had witnessed.

Belper Town: Preston, Rhodes (Moran 64), Bowman, Fankwe (Broadhead 88), Keenan, Evans, Bastos (Shaw 74), Burrows, De Girolamo, Wafula (Markelic 84), Gratton. Unused sub: Hassett

Sutton Coldfield Town: Wren, Birch, Lynch, Beresford, McGinnell, Edmunds, Hurley, Shaw, Gibson (Critchlow 76), McGrady (Johnson 90), Campbell (Lekuti 69). Unused subs: Shah, Czajka

Referee: Joshua Howell

Attendance: 560

Match Sponsors: Lubrizol

Sponsors’ Man of the Match: Jordan Fankwe