Belper welcomed League 3 high flyers Amber Valley to Strutt's fields on a day better suited to cocoa in front of a fire than running around in shorts and t shirts but boys will be boys and both teams turned the green grass of strutts into a quagmire, with both teams at the end of the game looking brown v brown rather than black and white v black and yellow.

First half saw the game scoreless with both sides never really looking like scoring, lots of errors in handling and spilling in contact of the ball lead to a frustrating half, Belper's best chance coming when Gray outpaced his opposite number then feeding Emslie who was bundled into touch metres from scoring.

Valley were the more technically better and streetwise of the 2 teams and the second half saw them edge ahead with a well worked wing try, following pressure in their own 22 the ball was won in a ruck when Belper over committed and spilled the ball with Valley's 9 Chapman kicking long. Smith collected the ball but was tackled into touch and from the resulting lineout Valley drove the maul on into Belper's 22, with Belper's forwards drawn in the quick hands through the backs saw Valley's 11 crash over in the corner to open the scores

Again Belper rallied but now playing into the wind and losing Meakin to injury Belper reshuffled but poor clearance kicks fed Valley's pacey 15 who brought the ball back at Belper and, with their forwards advancing, they managed to drive the maul over the line to score near the posts and convert 12-0 Valley

Another poor kick saw Valley virtually replicate the 2nd try but not convert, and with moments to go Valley scored in the corner,with Belper just failing to tackle the winger. Belper's skipper Dakin complimented the team's hard work with everyone giving their all, just silly decision making and some vital players mssing left Belper wondering what could have been, but Valley were the better side in the end and deserved to win