Belper Town boss lays down gauntlet in play-off race after late Shepshed defeat

In a tense, tight affair, all three goals in the 2-1 win for Dynamo came inside the final 10 minutes. Curtis Burrows looked to have earned Belper a point in the 90th minute, but Shepshed would go up the other end and take all three through Callum Burkey.

The Nailers are still fifth in the NPL Midlands Division, but have now lost their last two and are just three points ahead of sixth-placed Wellingborough Town heading into the final five games.

“We’re in a dog fight now with probably six teams for three play-off places, and we’ve put ourselves in that dog fight due to our poor form,” Attenborough said post-match.

“Tuesday night at Shepshed, we can lose that one, but our problem has been our home form. We can’t keep relying on winning away.

“What we have to do now in these last five games is go on a better run than the teams around us. It’s as simple as that really.”

Belper have been in the top five for the entirety of the campaign, and even topped the table in late October, but now face the real possibility of dropping out over the upcoming Easter weekend.

The Nailers travel to Boldmere St Michaels on Saturday before hosting Long Eaton United on Easter Monday.

Attenborough has challenged his players to rediscover the little bits of quality that helped them maintain their play-off place throughout the campaign, admitting that he couldn’t fault their recent effort.

“We’re not good enough to be going on runs where we’re winning games one after the other, which is disappointing,” he added.

“Today wasn’t a performance void of any effort or desire, but they hit better areas than we did, turned the ball around better than us and made our back line defend.

“It was just another game where we’ve huffed and puffed and not had the quality in the final third.”