Two controversial penalty decisions were the difference between Chasetown FC and Belper Town at The Scholars Ground.
The hosts had dominated much of the game when, with 72 minutes on the clock, a Chasetown short corner found its way to Nick Wellecomme and the Scholars appealed for a penalty as the striker appeared to be clipped by Richard Adams. But the appeals were waved away and the visitors broke quickly with the referee adjudging Chris Slater to have fouled Shaun Tuton in the box.
After the Chasetown man was shown the red card, Jon Froggatt stepped up and converted the penalty low to Ryan Price’s right.
The Derbyshire side had two other penalty shouts turned away in the later stages of the game, one for a shove on Mark Ward which looked to be more of a penalty offence than Slater’s challenge.
Until the decisive goal, Chasetown had been the side on top. In the first half, Wellecomme hit the bar with a fierce shot early on and was closest to finding the net in the second.
Six minutes after the break, the striker forced Scott Low into a save. Then, a minute later, skipper Slater sent a well-weighted pass into the path of Simon Brown who swept the ball into Wellecomme. His first touch took him away from the keeper but from a tight angle, all he could do was improvise with a back heel which was cleared off the line by Dan White.
Low made a superb fingertip save to deny Wellecomme once more after Ramone Stephens had set him up and it was the Chase number nine again who put a header just over the bar.
At the other end, Belper’s Colin Marrison scraped the crossbar with a header before the controversial penalty incident became the talking point.
In the final minutes, Glyn Cotton almost sneaked a second when he struck the outside of the post.
Chasetown: Price, Farmer (Forde, 52 mins), Keenan, Slater, Tesfa Robinson, Beckett, Brown, Bragoli, Wellecomme (Downing, 85 mins), Stephens, Butler (Jephcott, 74 mins). Subs not used: Westwood, Smith.
Belper Town: Low, Jones, Thompson, Cotton, White, Adams (Conkleton, 27 mins), Marrison, Warne, Froggatt (Jackson, 81 mins), Tuton, Duncum (Ward, 77 mins). Subs not used: Harrison, Radcliffe.
Click below to see more of Dave Birt’s pictures from the game:
