Both sides had chances in the first half and John Bateman had to be at his best to push away a chance from Tim Grice.

The visitors twice went close to breaking the deadlock when Marc Strzyzewski headed off the line from Paul Sullivan and then threw himself in front of the rebound off Lee Butler.

Leek started the second half the better side and forced Chasetown onto the back foot.

So it was slightly against the run of play when the Scholars scored what proved to be the winning goal. Butler forced a corner with a dangerous cross, from which man of the match Francino Francis headed across goal and Nathan Waite with an acrobatic overhead kick beat the defenders on the line.

Former Leek defender Rhys Thompson almost doubled the lead for his new club but Chris Martin flicked the ball over the crossbar.