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The Nailers continued their
impressive pre-season form with another composed display in defeating
UniBond League Division One North opponents, Ossett Albion in an
entertaining encounter at Dimple Wells.
Ben Walker came into the side at
the expense of Steven Murphy whilst Peter Smith also returned to the
squad following his wedding at the weekend.
The Nailers started in hesitant
fashion and conceded a goal after only 8 minutes after a diagonal ball
over the Belper defence eluded Andy Rushbury and the resulting cross was
swept in at the far post.
Belper were back on terms just 6
minutes later when Rushbury atoned for his earlier error with a fine near
post cross that was flicked nonchalantly into the net by Anthony Wilson.
But it was
advantage again to Ossett after 21 minutes when the Belper defence stood motionless
as an Albion player shouted “leave it” and a home striker had an easy
task of scoring. Despite Belper’s protests, the goal was allowed to
stand.
The goals
continued to flow and the Nailers restored parity on 25 minutes when
Jimmy Ghaichem was on the end of a crunching challenge inside the box and
Lee Stevenson stepped up to power the spot kick into the top corner of
the net.
Moments
later, Belper had their noses in front when Stevenson slipped a
delightful ball through to Ben Walker who slid the ball past the
advancing goalkeeper.
Belper
introduced all three substitutes at half time with Micky Harcourt,
Richard Tracey and Ben Walker all giving way.
Aaron Pride
was moved into the centre of defence alongside Jon Hobson whilst Steve
Murphy again found himself playing in an unfamiliar position, this time
at right back.
The second
half saw Albion seeing plenty of the ball with their slick passing
movement keeping the Belper midfield and defence busy but their
endeavours rarely tested Paul Pettinger.
Meanwhile,
Belper were frustrated by the number of times that a linesman’s flag
halted their progress but they did add a fourth goal after 72 minutes
when the unmarked Lee Stevenson headed in from a pinpoint cross from Ben
Walker.
This was
another good workout for Belper against a team that performed well last
season and which had retained all of their players for the current
campaign.
So, the omens
for the Nailers continue to look bright.
David Laughlin
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