The victory would have been all the more convincing had Dave Walker's first-half penalty not been saved by Belper keeper Alessandro Barcherini.

But Ward was not complaining after seeing his side follow up their 4-2 midweek success at Sheffield FC with another away victory.

He said: "I am delighted with the win because it was a tight game that could have gone either way."

And focusing on goal hero Matranga, he added: "We are not just delighted with Aiden's goals, but also his movement and all-round game. He has been superb lately.

"But it was also vital to get a clean sheet here, and so all credit to our goalkeeper Steve Hodgson. He commands his area and the defence really well, and two of his saves here were world class."

Belper began the game the better of the two sides and could have been ahead inside two minutes when Jon Froggatt curled a shot against the Kidsgrove crossbar.

Richard Adams then went close for the home side when he shot just over from 20 yards.

Kidsgrove were struggling to create any clear-cut chances at this stage, although Matt McKenzie did well to clear Walker's dangerous centre with Matt Haddrell looking to pounce.

Hodgson had to be at his best to keep the scores level on 26 minutes when Darryl Thomas raced clear, but the Grove keeper charged off his line to block the shot with his feet.

Kidsgrove had the chance to take the lead against the run of play when they were awarded a penalty three minutes later.

Karl Charlton was felled by Matt Thorpe in the box, but when Walker stepped up to blast the spot kick his shot was pushed away by the agile Barcherini.

The keeper had to be at his best again on 37 minutes to push over Charlton's rising drive from the right edge of Belper penalty box.

Haddrell almost gave Grove the ideal start to the second half, but his header from a Tim Sanders corner was hacked off the line by Liam Davis.

Sanders himself thought he had opened the scoring just past the hour mark, but his goal-bound effort was clawed away by the superb Barcherini.

Kidsgrove finally broke the deadlock on 65 minutes when Charlton's precision through ball was latched on to by Matranga.

The winger showed great composure to shrug off the challenge of Adams, before sliding his shot low across Barcherini and into the far corner of the Belper net.

Hodgson had to be at his best to preserve their lead seven minutes later when he tipped a Froggatt header from Ruben Wiggins-Thomas's centre on to a post.

The Grove keeper was tested again by Froggatt on 87 minutes, this time tipping away the striker's low drive from 10 yards.

Belper continued to press in the closing stages, but lacked quality in the final third to further trouble the Kidsgrove defence.

Kidsgrove Athletic: Hodgson, Smith, Dove, Ward, Schwarz, Charlton, Matranga, Sanders, Walker (Hall, 90) Haddrell (Shotton, 83), Urwin. Not used: Morris, Beasley, Johnson.