King's Lynn Town were given a champions' welcome by Belper – before delivering a performance befitting that of title winners.

The Nailers welcomed the newly-crowned Evo-Stik Division One South kings onto the pitch with a guard of honour ahead of the league's final round of matches at the weekend.

With no pressure resting on the result Linnets boss Gary Setchell told his men to go out and show why they had finished top of the table – and did just that in a 3-0 victory.

'I said go out and show everyone why you're champions. Just go out and relax. There were no big team talks, I didn't hardly go in at half-time, and we just relaxed and played,' said the Lynn boss. 'Belper were fantastic and I hope they go on to win the play-offs now (the Derbyshire club are at home to Stamford in the semi-finals today).

'We've played with so much pressure for 40 league games and at the weekend we just went out and played. It had a little bit of a testimonial feel about it but we showed some class passing and movement. It's just the pressure of playing for King's Lynn perhaps doesn't allow us to do that as much as we'd like.'

Striker Shane Tolley scored a first-half hat-trick inside 30 minutes as the Linnets picked up a victory which means they have amassed 301 points in just three campaigns since the reformed club was born in 2010.

The latest win ended Belper's 23-game unbeaten run and secured the Linnets' 28th league win of a memorable first term at Step Four of the non-league ladder.

The Linnets play their final game of the season this afternoon when Division One North champions Skelmersdale visit The Walks in the Peter Swales Challenge Shield final.