BELPER let slip a victory in the dying seconds of this hard fought encounter.

Belper received playing away from the old pavillion at Strutts fields, and were five points down after only three minutes when the ball was moved quickly through the hands in the backs of the visitors and their flying wing left all in his wake to score a try running two thirds of the pitch to score in the corner.

Belper responded with some massive hits in the forwards with Inns and Skivington tackling hard and winning the ball back time and time again.

Belper scored after 19 minutes when the backs pressured the visitor's no. 10 with ball being flung towards his support Ogorman dashed through to intercept and run 40-metres and spin the ball out to England who had chased in support to score under the posts.

Blount slotted the conversion to give Belper a 7-5 lead.

Minutes later the match turned in the visitor's favour with the ball being spun wide again and they charged upfield using the winger's pace to score in the corner again.

Then moments later they repeated the feat with their speed merchant winger racing down the wing to score in the corner for the second time.

Belper didn’t lie down and pushed forward again, winning three penalties in close succession but they were unable to convert with Blount missing narrowly with the wind swirling around.

Closed the gap

Just before half time Belper closed the gap on the visitors with a well worked try. Blount collected a kick downfield in his own 22, ran forward and punted the ball long with it bouncing out on the visitor's 22.

England competed well in the line to tap the ball back to Meakin who in turn fed Blackwell who crashed into contact setting up the ruck. Skivington picked up at the back of the ruck to crash over through three tacklers to bring the score to 12-15 at half-time.

The second half saw Belper have the majority of possession but Chesterfield always looked dangerous in attack and with Belper missing three pace merchants in the backs, they had to rely on Watson and Ogorman to keep the visitor's flying winger at bay.

Belper scored again mid-way through the half with Inns picking up at the back of a ruck and crashing over to score under the posts. Blount slotted the conversion to give Belper a 19-15 lead with 20 minutes left.

Chesterfield brought it to within a point with ten minutes left before Belper nearly finished the visitors off following a break in the centres and a ball spun wide to Watson but he was tackled high round the neck, a foul which went unpunished.

Chesterfield rallied and in the dying moments, following an unseen knock-on, play continued and a grubber kick was dived on to break Belper’s resolve and sneak the top of the table leaders a hard-fought victory.

This Saturday Belper face a mid-table clash at Leesbrook, kick off 2-30pm.