Matlock paid the ultimate price for not scoring when they were in control during the first half as Frickley stole the points and blemished Matlock's unbeaten run at the eighth time of asking with Danny Walsh's late penalty winner.
Mark Haran was adjudged to have climbed over substitute Michael Goddard on 82 minutes and the assistant signalled a spot kick which referee Martin Parker agreed with and WALSH stepped forward to send Adam Sollitt the wrong way from twelve yards.
So struggling Frickley gained a vital victory, but the unsavoury scenes which greeted the Matlock players at the end, and in particular, Frickley old boy Haran, were disgraceful as home fans taunted the Gladiators players unmercifully.
And Mr Parker must shoulder some responsibility for what happened. The Wakefield official had little control of a hard fought game, dishing out nine yellow cards, to Frickkley's Matty Bloor, Jonathan Groome, Chris White, Chris Davies and Mick Goddard, while Matlock had Scott brough, Nathan Joynes, Liam King and Danny Wood all cautioned.
Matlock though fell perfectly into the trap set by Frickley in the second half. The hosts, probably realising that had Matlock taken their chances, they would have been comfortably adrift by the half way mark, simply stopped Matlock from playing in the second period. The Gladiators resorted to long hopeful balls which former Matlock centre back Steve Heath, and Dean Jones gobbled up. and Hannah must have been caught offside a record number of times in what became a frustrating afternoon.
Manager Mark atkins made the one change which was enforced with Danny Wood replacing the suspended Lee featherstone. Scott Brough dropped back to full back with Wood on the left of midfield. The substites bench was without Darren Cartwright, injured in a road accident on Thursday night.
Attacking down the slope, Matlock pushed Frickley back only for wood's shot to drift disappointingly wide in the 5th minute.
Both goalkeepers were largely unemployed in the early exchanges but a great chance came Matlock's way on 15 minutes when Joynes flicked on for Hannah in a route one move which saw Hannah clear, but the Gladiators' top scorer could not add to his 24 goals so far this eseason as he shot straight at Adam Nicklin.
Joynes nearly played hannah clear once more but this time Jones mopped up before Sollitt did well in dealing with a couple of isolated Frickley raids.
But another excellent opening for Matlock was spurned on 32 minutes when Hannah's low corner from the right found Wood unattended some six yards out. But the midfielder was taken completely by surprise and could only prod the ball gently at Nicklin.
Two minutes later Hall volleyed straight at the goalkeeper. Frickley responed with a quickly taken free kick which saw Alistair Benson shoot into the sidenetting, but Matlock wasted another chance in the 40th minute, with Joynes forcing his shot wide from 15 yards with only Nicklin to beat.
Judging by the standard of the second half play both sides would probably have settled for a scoreless draw. The only chance for Matlock was a Joynes header which flew over the bar from a left wing Hannah cross midway through the half.
But Frickley got their lucky break with the penalty, hotly disputed by the visitors. After that, substitute Dene Cropper's header was deflected over and Haran, up supplementing the attack, headed down and just out of Cropper's radar to complete the move.
Matlock had let their standards drop, but deserved a point at least from a typically shapeless game at Frickley.
MATLOCK TOWN: Adam Sollitt, Adam Yates, Scott Brough, Liam King, Mark Haran, James Lukic, Jordan Hall (Ben Algar 62), Steve Warne, Nathan Joynes (Dene Cropper 81), Ross Hannah, Danny Wood (Nathan Benger 87). Other sub: Nick Buxton.
REFEREE: M Parker-Wakefield. ATTENDANCE: 199 STAR MAN: James Lukic.
