Belper were without their talisman and leading scorer Jonathon Margetts who sat this one out with a minor injury, however fit again Alex Peterson took over the main strikers’ role.

Todd Jordan is still sidelined so Josh Waldram started after serving a one match ban following his dismissal at Stamford.

The pattern of the game was set from the kick off with Belper pushing forward forcing the visitors to defend for large parts of the afternoon. Tom Carter in the Greens’ goal made two fine saves to deny the Nailers an early lead.

The first was a close range shot from Danny South in the 5th minute and then a diving save from Alex Peterson’s 13th minute drive to the near post.

The visitor’s had already shown their ability to catch Belper on the break, but in the 17th minute they went one step further when Oliver Ward latched on to a long pass that bypassed the Nailers’ central defence, and the Greens’ striker shrugged off Jordan Hayward’s challenge to fire past Ollie Battersby in the Belper goal.

The Nailers were visibly shaken by this turn of events and for a while Soham enjoyed their unexpected bonus and had more possession although they rarely troubled ‘keeper Battersby.

Craig Nelthorpe brought the Nailers back to life in the 40th minute with a great piece of skill which saw him cut inside and send a rasping drive just over the crossbar.

Alex Peterson should have calmed Belper nerves on the stroke of half time with a great chance that he put wide with only the ‘keeper to beat.

Manager Grant Black changed things at the break and brought on Riece Bertram and Steven Beejer in place of Peterson and Hayward who were withdrawn.

Danny South moved up front and things immediately started to happen. The visitors were put under immense pressure from the start of the half and Bertram saw a 48th minute header cleared off the line.

Cameron Watson handed Belper a lifeline to recovery in the 57th minute when he pushed Danny South in the back in front of the referee who duly pointed to the spot.

In the absence of regular penalty taker Margetts, Craig Nelthorpe took responsibility and coolly converted the spot kick leaving the Nailers in excess of 30 minutes to find a winner.

Belper piled on the pressure and created many good situations which were wasted or nullified by the Soham defenders.

Nelthorpe was sent away down the left and provided a teasing cross that was inches away from Brodie Litchfield, then Bertram had a presentable opportunity on 72 minutes but fired wide on the angle.

Doubt was just starting to creep in when Nathan Curtis took his chance to lob the on rushing ‘keeper in the 80th minute and he kept his nerve and accuracy to send the ball bouncing into the net. The relief around the ground was palpable.

Arguably the best goal of the afternoon came 3 minutes later from the industrious Brodie Litchfield who found space on the left and struck a tremendous angled volley that billowed the net and sent Nailers’ supporters into raptures.

Soham could have collapsed completely after this but to their credit, they made Belper fight all the way to the end and might have reduced the arrears in added on time after the Nailers survived a goal mouth scramble to keep their lead intact.

Belper Town: Battersby, Rhodes, Haywood (Beejer 45), Waldram, South, Wilson, Litchfield,, Mancinelli, Peterson (Bertram 45), Curtis, Nelthorpe (Kozluk 90). Unused subs: Brown, Fang.

Soham Town Rangers: Carter, Conway, Skelley, Kaye, Watson, Groves, Carden (Bennett 68), Sutton, Ward, Rogers, Seymour-Shove. (Kelly 78). Unused subs: Olive, Okay

Referee: Scott Mason

Attendance: 591