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Matlock joint boss Phil Brown issued a rallying call to his troops and Gladiators fans as well as conveying some heartening news ahead of the busy festive programme.

After Tuesday night's scheduled visit to Glapwell in the 3rd Round of the Derbyshire Senior Cup, Matlock face three league derbies. If they can come out with good results over Christmas, their play off hopes will be back on track.

Ilkeston Town are the visitors to the Geoquip Stadium on Boxing Day followed by Leek Town three days later on Saturday December 29. Then comes a trip to the Silverlands for a test against old rivals Buxton on New Years Day.

"The Christmas games are important for us for despite our injury problems and us not having the best of runs lately, we're just three points behind the play offs. There's all to play for and we'll be wanting to pick up as many points as we can. We want to give our fans a happy Christmas and we hope they turn out in good numbers for these three attractive games, particularly the home games." said Brown.

And Brown revealed that the current injury position is "not too bad" with there being a possibility that leading scorer Simon Barraclough could be back in action for the Ilkeston clash following a knee injury sustained in the 3-1 home win against Stamford on November 6.

"Simon trained on Monday night and will train again on Thursday. He's due to have a physio's assessment on Wednesday to see if he can start playing again and if all goes well, he could be available for Boxing Day."

Both skipper James Lukic and Ryan Davis were hoping to return to action at Glapwell. Lukic would have undergone a late fitness check if Saturday's game at Ashton United survived a mid morning pitch inspection, instead of being a victim of the frozen temperatures which accounted for the majority of the UniBond League programme.

Lukic and Davis both trained on Saturday with Lukic coming through unscathed and while Davis pulled out of the session near its end, he was expected to be okay. On the debit side, Gary Webster would have missed the Ashton game with a bad back and faced a fitness test ahead of the Glapwell game, and both Glenn Kirkwood and Dene Cropper face longer spells out.

"It wasn't such bad news for us to have the match off at Ashton" said Brown. "The injured lads were eager to get back but there's always the risk that the injury might flare up again, so with another training session or two, another few days free of match action can give the injury a better chance to clear up altogether. It would be great to go into the Christmas games with James Lukic, Ryan Davis and Simon Barraclough all back in the side."

There have been no further developments in new blood coming to the Geoquip Stadium although Brown reiterated that the Gladioators were working hard to bring in another couple of players.

"No-one seems to want to let anybody go around the Christmas period with all the games that are coming up but we're talking with Lee Richardson at Chesterfield about extending Jamie Jackson's loan. Lee seems keen to extend it, so hopefully we'll have Jamie over Christmas. Hopefully we can turn the corner now."

The home meeting with Kendal Town, which was abandoned in monsoon conditions on December 8, has been rearranged for Saturday January 5.