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Dunston 2
2
Coulson (19'), Robinson (31')
3 Belper Town
3
Burrows (62', 69'), Crofts (89')

REPORT | Dunston UTS 2 Belper Town 3

Dunston surrendered a two-goal lead after falling to a 3-2 defeat against Belper Town.

After a dominant first half display, Dunston lead at the break courtesy of goals from Richard Coulson and David Robinson. Ultimately, Dunston were undone in the second half by a ruthless Belper side who secured all three points after a Curtis Burrows brace, and a later winner from Nathaniel Crofts.

Jon McDonald made just one change from last Saturday's 3-1 win against Sheffield as David Robinson entered the starting line-up in place of Dan Turner.

Dunston were in cruise control in the first half as they began to dominate from the opening whistle. The first real opportunity came in the thirteenth minute when Sado Djalo powered a headed effort towards goal, but was denied by a strong save from Kieran Preston. One minute later, captain Michael Pearson chanced his luck from distance but, once again, Preston was equal to it.

Despite being on the backfoot, the visitors carved out a good opportunity on 15 minutes when Keaton August was denied by an excellent diving save by Dan Lowson between the Dunston sticks.

The deadlock was finally broken with 19 minutes played when Richard Coulson netted his second of the season. The Dunston forward capitalised on a defensive slip and calmly slotted his shot back across goal and into the bottom corner to give his side a deserved lead.

The lead was almost doubled four minutes later when Harvey Neary caught the ball beautifully on the volley from outside the box, but his effort dropped narrowly wide of the target.

On 31 minutes, Dunston bagged their second of the game as David Robinson got himself back amongst the goal. The number ten was found in a pocket of space by Neary and Robinson made no mistake curling his effort into the back of the net at the near post. Dunston went into half-time with a two-goal lead after a convincing opening 45 minutes.

The second half turned out to be a completely different story as The Nailers came out with a lot more intent.

Dan Lowson was forced into a spectacular double save on 59 minutes before JJ Chrisp managed to hook the ball away at the last second to preserve the two-goal advantage.

On 62 minutes, the deficit was halved. Jack Walker was harshly punished for a soft foul on the edge of the box and Curtis Burrows stepped up and drilled his free kick into the bottom corner.

Seven minutes later, Dunston's lead had vanished as Burrows doubled up and secured his second goal of the game. The Belper number 8 looped a header over Lowson's head with the ball dropping into the back of the net.

Harvey Neary almost restored Dunston's lead when he once again connected sweetly with a volley from outside the box, but Preston was able to push the ball away with a strong save.

On 82 minutes, Belper almost took the lead but were denied by some heroics from Jude Swailes. The Dunston Man of the Match threw his body on the line to make two massive goal-line blocks.

Ultimately, Belper were gifted one more opportunity which they took in the 89th minute when Nathaniel Crofts burst through on goal and placed a composed finish past Lowson to win the game for his side at the death.

Dunston drop to 9th after the defeat with a trip to Bishop Auckland coming up on Tuesday evening.

Report by Callum Pattison

Image Credit - Beauty Time Photography


Published Saturday 12th October 2024