The home team, to their credit never let the Nailers settle into any sort of pattern and in the end they caved in under pressure and conceded goals that you would never have expected a Belper side to let in.

Manager Grant Black selected an unchanged side to the one that won their opening day fixture against Histon, but while the team was the same, the performance was very different.

Initially the Nailers started on the front foot but the Scholars quickly got into their stride and their superior passing skills particularly on the break soon had Belper backtracking.

Despite this the best either side could come up with in the opening half hour was a shot from Arron Ashford that fizzed past the upright in the 18th minute and a long range effort from Craig Nelthorpe in the 37th.

Belper’s best spell of the game came in the period just before half time and started with a good move involving Nathan Curtis and Sam Wright and finished with a looping shot from Jonathan Margetts that cleared the cross bar.

A Craig Nelthorpe free kick, one of his best of the night found Danny South at the far post; however Curtis Pond moved quickly to deny his header.

In a frantic 60 seconds just before the break, the Nailers had their hosts under the cosh, and Brodie Lichfield saw his low drive take the slightest deflection away for a corner kick.

Hopes that Belper could maintain this form in the second half faded quickly, as the Scholars came out in a very determined mood and the Nailers were distinctly second best.

Yet it could have been different if the Nailers had been awarded a penalty in the 49th minute when Ryan Wynter pushed Jonathan Margetts over just inside the penalty box, but the referee gave a free kick just outside instead.

Craig Nelthorpe was unfortunate to see his resulting free kick hit the angle of the cross bar and upright.

Margetts had a curling effort go wide a few minutes later, but the hosts stepped up their efforts and snuffed out most of the attacking efforts from Belper.

Then it all began to go wrong as two corner kicks in as many minutes left the Nailers in a hole they never looked like getting themselves out of.

The first one came in low on the edge of the six yard area and was met by Ryan Wynter and then a carbon copy corner kick took a deflection off Josh Woodcock and slipped under the despairing Myles Wright in the Belper goal; these came in the 60th and 62 minutes of the game.

Belper tried to fight back but could only muster efforts from Margetts and Woodcock which went wide of the target, then in the 82nd minute they were caught hopelessly short at the back and Alex Melbourne was given all the time he needed to strike the ball just inside the far post to confirm an easy win for the Scholars.

It would have been nice to have scored a consolation at least, but Brodie Lichfield’s well struck shot in the 89th minute had Curtis Pond scrambling across his goal to put the ball around the post, so the Nailers were denied even that, although in fairness they hadn’t deserved anything on the night.

Chasetown: Pond, Melbourne, Evans, Wynter, Parsons, McGinnel, Ashford, Langston, Butlin, Haddaway, Reid (Lund 65). Unused subs: Slater, Curtis, Smith, Crook.

Belper Town: Wright M, Woodcock, Nelthorpe, Wright S, Bertram (Peterson 56), Wilson, Lichfield, Gregory (Reeves 79), South, Margetts, Curtis (Johnson 65). Unused subs: Sandhu, Rhodes.

Referee: Jake Allsop

Att: 482