The 2-1 defeat by the Dabbers combined with a positive result for Frickley Athletic sealed the inevitable for Belper, and manager Jimmy Albans spoke of his anguish at the prospect of relegation.

"I'm absolutely gutted of course.

"I'd like to apologize to the football club and to the supporters who have supported the club through this poor season.

"They have gone through every emotion in the last twelve months after being promoted through the play-offs last season and then seeing their side suffer relegated this season.

"When I took the job I genuinely thought I could keep the club up but I haven't and for that I am sorry and I take full responsibility.

"I feel sorry for the club, but myself and the players can't feel sorry for ourselves because we haven't done enough over the season to stay up."

Paul Lister (pictured) gave Belper hope of a positive result with an equalising goal before the home side struck again to deny Belper any points on the day.

"We didn't deserve to lose, but we have done.

"That pretty much sums up my time so far in these first 14 games.

"We've been competitive in most of them and it's always been the odd goal where we've lost it, and it's usually been a late mistake that has caused it."

"When I came in, I gave the players that were here at the time the chance to show me that they were good enough, but we still didn't get any results.

"Accordingly, I began to sign players and improve the squad but sadly we've not had any better results.

"My staff and I know that the team we have now is good enough but clearly the players themselves have little confidence or belief and that's shown on the field.

"I had several of the players with me at Grantham but they are a shadow of the players they were in Belper’s colours.

"We still have a handful of games left, and although points wise we no longer have anything to play for, the players still have their futures to play for.

"We need to make sure we get some results to give the supporters something back."