Worried Matlock Town joint boss Phil Brown is praying that star striker Simon Barraclough's knee injury is not as bad as it looks.

 

Barraclough lasted only 12 minutes of Tuesday night's 3-1 home win over Stamford before being helped off, and to make matters worse, the Gladiators also lost winger Matty Caudwell with hamstring trouble just eleven minutes later.

 

"Simon's injury looks a bad one" said Brown. "We're trying to get him in at Rotherham this week. At the moment we're not sure whether its his medial, autenal or cruciate ligament, there's that many ligaments in a knee but he's told us that it feels far worse than when he did it in pre season the other year and then he was out for six weeks."

 

Caudwell's hamstring injury is likely to keep him out of Saturday's tough trip to Marine and with Barraclough looking a certain non starter as well, Matlock appear to be down to the bare bones.

 

Ryan Davis will be hoping to join Barraclough at Millmoor to see the extent of his knee injury while Tureday night's costly victory also saw Steve Taylor (back) and Paul Riley (ear and other niggles) also carrying less serious knocks.

 

Brown and colleague Gareth Williams' frustration is understandable. Although they will have forward Dene Cropper available again after serving a three match suspension, their options are limited.

 

"Losing five or six of our best players through people coming in for them and then Simon for a good few weeks coupled with Matty's and Ryan Davis' injuries is really frustrating" Brown moaned. "Simon's our leading scorer and a lot of our football is played through him. We'll have to see the extent of his injury but there's lots happening on the player front with regards to bringing players in. We've more than one iron in the fire but you can go for ten people and not get one. There's a lot of talking at the minute and some players are just waiting at present for whatever reason."

 

The Stamford victory was only their second in the last seven league outings and it came hot on the heels of the disappointing 2-1 home loss to Gateshead in the FA Trophy last Saturday.

 

Brown and Williams showed they are not afraid to try out different systems and formations for against the Tynesiders they had Steve Circuit at right back, Ryan Laight, normally a full back at centre half, Steve Taylor wide on the right and Gary Webster in the centre of midfield.

 

That all changed on Tuesday night with Glenn Kirkwood returning at centre half to enable Laight to revert to right back, Circuit was back in midfield, with Webster on the right and Steve Taylor up front.

 

Explaining their thinking, Brown said "We felt the performance on Saturday was a good one. Gateshead have hardly lost this season. We wanted to win it. Steve Taylor had done enough recently to warrant a start and we used him pushing on down the right and not as a winger. Laurence Hall and Simon Barraclough had been doing well so we went to attack them. Gary Webster did well in midfield. We'd seen what he can do there and we needed pace and workrate and it all worked quite well. Maybe the result made people think we could have done things this way or that way but Gateshead didn't have many chances. We like Gary in there for his energy as he gets beyond the midfield to join our attacks and has the energy to get back and cover when required.

 

Players were in their more accustomed slots on Tuesday.

 

"We switched back for Stamford. We knew Tony Battersby is decent in the air and French isn't bad on the wing. So we used Glenn Kirkwood for his ariel ability, and had Ryan Laight back at right back as we reckoned he could do a job on French. Gary Webster's pace we thought would be useful against Colkin".

 

Webster notched Matlock's reply after Gateshead were two up on Saturday to register the Gladiators 200th FA Trophy goal, while on Tusday Steve Taylor scored the opener before Laurence Hall brought an end or a stop on Town's penalty curse as he scored twice from the spot versus Stamford.

 

The win lifted them back up to sixth and is a boost ahead of their tough trip to Marine on Saturday.

 

"The lads have been a bit quiet as they felt hard done to in recent games. They just needed a lift and against Stamford we showed our qualities of spirit and togetherness. We're back up to sixth and if we can get a win at Marine then we're back in the play offs. Its imporant now that we consolidate our place amongst the leading six or seven clubs."

The Marine visit is the first of three on the trot for the Gladiators. Next Tuesday they are at Eastwood Town in the UniBond League Challenge Cup 3rd Round, before travelling to Lincoln United next weekend.

 

Meanwhile Matlock have been awarded the Fair Play Award for October in the UniBond League Premier Division. They collected just the one caution in four league matches, and as such rose from second bottom to a mid table slot in the Fair Play League.

 

UniBond representative Mark Ogley handed over a 1.5 litre bottle of Famous Grouse Whisky to the Gladiators before kick off against Stamford.