Hit man Ross Hannah sported the broadest of smiles as he celebrated his first hat-trick on home soil against FC United on Tuesday night.
It was his second treble for the Gladiators, his first coming ironically in another 4-3 victory, at Stocksbridge Park Steels last September.
Hannah, signed from local UniBond First Division South rivals Belper Town at the start of last season, has now hit 28 league and cup goals this season, and his hat-trick goal was his 50th career goal for Matlock.
Clutching the match ball, Hannah expressed his delight at reaching a half century and paid tribute to boss Mark Atkins, his team mates and the Gladiators fans.
"I'm absolutely over the moon, that's now fifty isn't it? And its especially nice to now have my first hat-trick in a home game and in a game like that. I've scored a lot of braces so it's been coming and this is so special. I owe a lot to Mark Atkins who keeps on encouraging me and giving me great advice and also to the rest of the lads who create some excellent chances. The fans have also been magnificent to me, they've given me and the team great backing and that's why I'm pleased to have scored three here and given them something back."
Hannah even had a hand in Steve Warne's strike as United had no answer to him in the second half after Matlock had been clearly second best in the opening forty five minutes.
But boss Atkins said he felt Hannah needed some words of wisdom during the first half.
"I had a little pop at him after about 35 minutes as I didn't feel at that stage he was working as hard as he can. I'd got two substitutes warming up to come on in the second half although not for him. But he got the vital equaliser for us and when Ross runs in the right areas and the lads find him he's a different class. He took his goals really well. Okay he had some luck when the keeper dropped it for his second but he was there to capitalise on the mistake. And I've been encouraging him to go around the goalkeeper more often and he's listened to what I've had to say for he's done just that for the last goal and got the penalty. He shows a lot of character and he fully deserves his hat-trick."
Atkins felt his side did very well to keep in touch with an FC United side who dominated the first third of the game and could have been out of sight. The Rebels were smarting from the shock of being the first side to lose to bottom markers Durham City last weekend. For the record Durham then won again, 4-3 at home to Whitby Town on Tuesday night.
"FC United were always going to react well after Saturday as they had a point to prove and for twenty five to thirty minutes I've got to say that their performance was the best I've ever seen at this level of the game" said Atkins.
"They were strong, always on top of us and quick so we did very well to hang on in there. We could easily have been more than the one goal behind but we showed a lot of character against a very good side. Then Ross got his first goal and after that we always looked dangerous going forward. We could have dealt better with all three of the goals we let in but all in all I'm very happy to have won 4-3 in a very entertaining game."
On the flip side Atkins was disappointed with the 2-1 defeat at Marine last weekend. The Gladiators got off to a great start scoring after just 8 minutes through Nathan Benger, who was praised by his boss.
"Nathan's done very well over the two games, both at Marine and against FC United. He's shown a great attitude and great determination and has done a fine job, particularly in central midfield after the injuries when he's been shattered. In general though I wasn't happy with our desire level at Marine. We scored and then found ourselves muscled out of things . Marine simply wanted it more than us. We conceded two poor goals through errors and then only started to play at 2-1 down. You can't do that and expect to win matches. I'm the type of person who wants to win every game. Over the ninety minutes against Marine we didn't deserve anything. Complacency might have crept in a little following our run of good results so we need to get back to what we were doing two or three weeks ago"
Eighth placed Matlock head to third bottom Burscough on Saturday with a warning from Atkins that the Lancashire side must be given proper and due respect.
"They're the only team I haven't managed to see this season but I'll be finding out about them before Saturday" he promised. "But we won't be taking them lightly. Every game in this league is hard, just look at what Durham have started to do in the last week, and when you go towards Merseyside you always have a tough game. We want to add another win to Tuesday night's" he stressed.
Atkins has cancelled Thursday night training with several players carrying knocks and bruises. Both Adam Yates and Liam King were forced off on Tuesday night and others continued playing through the pain barrier.
"We may need to freshen things up a bit on Saturday by picking a side to get the best out of the fitness levels in our squad."
Dene Cropper and youngster Josh Wain were due to play for Koolsport North East Counties League Premier Division strugglers Shirebrook Town on a dual registration arrangement on Wednesday, with Cropper in particular needing ninety minutes of action to build up his match fitness.
Given the injury situation, Matlock will be relieved to be without a midweek game.
Meanwhile both Matlock and Belper have been in talks at Derby County to finalise arrangements for their Cawarden Derbyshire Senior Cup Final showdown at Pride Park on Tuesday April 20 (7.45 pm).
Admission to the stadium will be £10 for adults, £5 for senior citizens with children under 16 paying just £2. The Rams ticket office will be available for ticket sales on the day of the match with both Matlock and Belper selling tickets in advance of the day of the game.
Spectators will be housed in the West Stand Lower Tier with segregated seating. Matlock will use the home dressing room.
Further details will be announced in due course.
