Its the second and most probably the most important of three successive cup games this weekend for Matlock Town who head to Witton Albion in the 3rd Qualifying Round of the FA Carlsberg Trophy.
Important because they can net another £4000 from the prize fund if they win, together with the added incentive of a possible home draw against Blue Square Conference National opposition in the next round, which could bring them more money and added media exposure.
That is not to say that last Tuesday's narrow Derbyshire Senior Cup victory over Mickleover Sports, and this coming Tuesday night's visit to Nantwich Town in the 3rd Round of the UniBond League Challenge Cup are insignificant.
But with major development taking place on their ground and having to keep the club competing financially off the park as well as on it, this is revenue which the Gladiators will receive gratefully.
Wins in previous rounds, at home to Loughborough Dynamo and then most notably at high riding and unbeaten in the Zamaretto Southern League Premier Division Cambridge City, have so far earned Matlock £5300. Matlock will be keen to progress further and earn more cash as they travel to Wincham Park to take on an Albion side who are making a decent fist of an immediate return from the UniBond First Division South to where they were relegated from at the end of last season.
With Witton currently in third spot in their division, Gladiators chief Mark Atkins is showing them plenty of respect.
"It'll be very tough as Gary Finlay's got a good side together. Its also always a very tough place to go and we'll certainly not be judging it as a game against a lower division side. What we need to do is to get to the levels we've got to in the last three or four weeks. I keep saying it. On our day we can match anyone and if we can retain the solidity and restrict goalscoring chances for the opposition, we've got a real chance for we've got gaols in us going forward."
It's been a funny if successful week for the Gladiators, the 1975 winners, as they strive for more FA Trophy sucess starting at Witton. Last Saturday bthey bturned on a five star show to demolish league leaders Ashton 5-0, before on Tuesday they needed extra time to edge past Wittpn's divisional rivals Mickleover Sports 2-1 after extra time.
The Ashton game turned out to be far easier than Atkins and most observers envisaged as a Ross Hannah brace, his second an absolute cracker, plus strikes from Simon Sturdy, Dene Cropper and Nathan Benger made up the rout.
"We were obviously expecting a tough game" said Atkins. "But the boys went about their business to win in style wit lots of passion and showing brilliant fitness levels. We bossed the game from the first whistle to the last and I know it sounds daft, but I was a little disappointed to only win by five goals. The lads though deserve tremendous credit, we steamrollered them. Okay the first goal was a goalkeeping error, but the rest were all good goals, well worked and very good finishes. We had four or five other good chances, but we can't grumble at all with the performance. The lads have put the work in and got their rewards."
Atkins was beaming as he described Hannah's sensational second and Matlock's fourth goal just after half time.
"It was a fantastic strike and no goalkeeper on this earth would have stopped it. Ross has done ever so well for us again. He was only 75 to 80% fit but we took a gamble as the lad so much wanted to play. Again his workrate's been excellent and that's what can happen to you when you work hard."
Matlock also kept their fourth clean sheet on the trot before Keiron
O'Connell's equaliser for Mickleover on Tuesday halted the run.
"Four on the trot's been another great bonus for us and now we want to keep that unbeaten run going (now seven in league and cup). The back four and midfield four have worked extremely hard so that Adam Sollitt's had reasonably quiet games and we want that to continue" Atkins added.
If the Ashton win was sensational, the Mickleover victory was a struggle. Atkins left out Simon Sturdy and Ross Hannah and was going to omit Lee Featherstone from the starting line up until James Lukic felt some discomfort in his back in the pre match warm up. Mark Haran earned a recall alongside Adam Yates in central defence while Stef Frost partnered Dene Cropper in attack after recently rejoining Town from Hucknall. Frost opened the scoring and after O'Connell's equaliser, Mickleover had two men sent off before a fine Cropper cracker settled the game in extra time.
"It was always going to be tough after Saturday but in many ways it was a good game for us to have for it's brought everyone back down to earth a bit" Atkins explained."We didn't work as hard as we'd done in earlier games and we really didn't want to have to go to extra time. The plus point is that we've got through the tie and its another step in the unbeaten run which we want to extend."
As well as Frost, Matlock also signed forward Danwell Francis, a younger relation of former Matlock striker Reuben Francis, who played in the Tommy Spencer era of the late 1990's. Francis, plucked from Rothley Imps in the Everards Brewery Leicestershire Senior League, impressed Atkins in a private practice game against Chesterfield Academy, and he made his debut as a substitute on Tuesday.
"He needs to work on his fitness but we'll get him involved with us in the club and also try to get him as many games as possible to gear him up for the first team. Stef's done well, worked hard, scored his goal, he too needs some fitness work" Atkins said.
Matlock will once again be monitoring Hannah who tops the UniBond Premier's scoring chart with fourteen league and cup goals so far this season. Lukic, Sturdy(ankle), Haran (tight hamstring) and Featherstone (knee)' should all make it for Witton and the hope is clearly that Hannah(groin) j and Ben Algar (thigh) join them.
Meanwhile Matlock hope to add another striker to their squad before the weekend although Atkins pointed out that he is cup tied for Saturday.
If the tie at Witton ends in a draw, the replay will be at Causeway Lane on Tuesday night. Fans need to keep an eye also on Nantwich's Trophy tie at Eastwood which could also result in the League Cup game at the Weaver Stadium being postponed.
