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Matlock Town joint boss Phil Brown remained calm after having nearly a week to digest the criticism from Gladiators fans on the club's official website forum in the midst of the Blues' worst spell since he and Gareth Williams were appointed in July 2004.

Since beating this weekend's visitors to the Geoquip Stadium, Eastwood Town, at Coronation Park back on October 16, Matlock have won just four out of twenty one league and cup games, with twelve of these ending in defeat. Last weekend's goalless draw at Leek ended a run of successive defeats at the fifth time of asking.

In a thread entitled "Time is up" one fan called for Brown and Williams to be dismissed while another called for Matlock to approach former Gladiators Les McJannett and Kevin Gee, the management team at northern Counties East League Glapwell, the team which ended the Gladiators' interest in this season's Derbyshire Senior Cup.

But there was plenty of support for the management duo as well. Some fans believed Brown and Williams should be given time to turn things around and there was also backing for them and a rallying call to the Town fans from a former Matlock favourite,utility player Craig Hopkins who was forced to retire last season with a stomach muscle injury.

Hopkins cited the loss of a clutch of key players plus a series of injuries throughout the season. He posted "If Witton were to lose players of this calibre over the next twelve months where would they be? And would people be wanting to change the manager? Now I know there is no point in looking back, but I can assure you that Browny and Gripper are working their butts off to bring quality players in and they will do this. I think the supporters at Matlock are fantastic and I know that you have a part to play as well. The players are lacking confidence at the moment but this will come back and with vocal support it can come back soon. So lets get behind all the boys, keep patient and let Browny and Gripper build another attractive team."

Brown remained largely tight lipped but said "We've read what was said and we do have strong views but would rather get on with turning things round and doing the best we can for the club and the fans. We're also aware of the backing we've had both from Hoppo and other fans. A response won't really benefit anybody, it's all about opinions after all."

The episode does emphasise how quickly fortunes can change in football. Matlock won the UniBond League Challenge Cup in Brown and Williams' first campaign in charge in 2004/05 and their league position improved in each of the following two seasons, with the Gladiators reaching the play offs with a fifth spot finish last term, as well as reaching two cup finals. Matlock have also made money in the transfer market with players that were either brought in by the managers, or developed due to secduring a regular spot, moving to a higher standard of football for transfer fees.

Some fans believed that last weekend's game at Leek was a make or break match for them and the club. The recent slump has seen other clubs successfully play catch up on the Gladiators who currently reside in tenth spot, but Leek, third from the foot of the table and in the first relegation place, are just seven points adrift with three games in hand.

Matlock, should have enough talent to stay clear of trouble, but nevertheless they were delighted to end their losing sequence on the tricky Harrison Park surface.

"It was a decent performance" said Brown. "Football wise we've played better, it wasn't full free flowing stuff. But we asked them to battle and the lads certainly did that. After a tentative start through a lack of confidence we came into it before half time and started to make inroads into the Leek defence through Matty Caudwell's breaks down the left. we had three or four good chances and could have nicked it. It was good to see everyone knuckling down and battling after recent results and if we can continue in this vein we'll be fine."

It was Matlock's third match on the trot without scoring but Brown feels there is no great cause for worry.

"We created a fair few chances against Witton and were uinlucky not to score enough to see us draw or even win it.Their goalie was their man of the match and that tells you a lot. and against Guiseley, dene Cropper was unlucky on two or three occasions in the first half and Gary Webster also went very close although we never looked like scorng in the second half. We got more dangerous as the game went on at leek and if we can turn in a couple more good performances now, the confidence will be back and we'll start scoring again."

On the other side of the coin, Matlock kept their first clean sheet in three months at the thirteenth attempt. Their goal had not remained intact since the 2-0 victory at Lincoln United on November 17.

"That was with a one legged goalkeeper for all the second half" quipped Brown. "Leek had a couple of chances and hit the bar but overall we looked fairly solid. Ryan Laight and James Lukic looked strong together in the centre and we brought Cameron Fearon in who did well at right back. Martin Taylor said he didn't feel unduly threatened and so all in all we were very pleased with the clean sheet."

Taylor's leg injury could mean a return for hitherto first choice goalkeeper Andy Richmond on Saturday.

"If it is a pull then Martin could be struggling and we don't think he'll recover in time so there's a possibility that Andy could come back in. But whoever wears the number one shirt, we're confident that they'll do a good job for us."

There are likely to be other changes to face the newly promoted play off chasing Badgers for Saturday's UniBond League TV match which kicks off early at 12-45pm. Striker Dene Cropper again had a setback having to come off five minutes into the second half at Leek and is a doubt but two other players could return plus there could be a loan signing before the weekend.

"Dene said he came through the Guiseley game unscathed and he'd done well" Brown explained.Stevie Taylor had been ill and hadn't trained. Dene had got a full game under his belt and had some chances and we thought and hoped he'd be okay and kick on from there. But it's flared up again and didn't look like the real Dene Cropper at Leek so we'll need to have a look at him later in the week. so we'll need to take a look at him nearer the weekend. We're hoping bthat Paul Riley will be fit, his calf is feeling a lot easier, but don't forget his knee which'll require an operation come the end of the season. Ben Kistell had the flu and wasn't fit to play at leek but we expect him to be back in contention for the Eastwood game."

Honours between the Gladiators and the Badgers are even so far this season. Matlock won the league match 3-2 at Coronation Park in October, so the incentive is there for them to record their third league double of the campaign. A month later, Matlock scored three again at Eastwood, but the hosts recovered from 3-1 down to knock Matlock out of the UniBond League Challenge Cup by the odd goal in seven.

"It's encouraging that we've twice scored three against Eastwood for they're renowned for not conceding a lot of goals, so we know we can get in behind them.Obviously we have our ideas of how we want to p;lay against them which I'm not going to reveal here, but we know it'll be a severe test for we're likely to face a bombardment with them wanting to play the ball up to their big lads up front."

Six hundred complimentary tickets for youngsters aged 14 and under have been distributed to local schools ahead of the match.

Meanwhile Town fans have the opportunity to witness the management skills of Brown and Williams first hand in a special fund raising game to be held at the Geoquip Stadium on Sunday April 27. As part of the club's New Stand Appeal, past and present Matlock stars will line up alongside fans in a contest where one side will be managed by Brown and the other by Williams. Fans have the chance to bid at an auction for a place in the match where they can play for half of the game with twenty places up for grabs. In a fun filled day, there will be entertainment for the whole family. Further information can be obtained and bids made by contacting Stuart Briddon on 01629 55710.