Buxton FC vs Matlock Town FC
Buxton FC
4Silverlands Stadium
DCFA Senior Challenge Cup
Matlock Town FC
1Match Report
BUXTON 4-1 MATLOCK TOWN
Virtually everything that could go wrong did for the Gladiators at the Tarmac Silverlands Stadium on Tuesday as the hosts fought back from an interval deficit against a severely depleted Matlock who were down to ten men and without their two most experienced central defenders.
They arrived in the High Peak for the Derbyshire Senior Cup semi final without the cup tied Scott Boden, Michael Williams and Callum Moore and the also had Nathan Whitehead out injured. Harry Wood played despite having a throat infection and before the contest was twenty minutes old, both Adam Yates and Ioan Evans were back in the dressing room. Matlock’s bench was a youthful one with their three under 21 promotees, James Colbourne, Charlie Wood and Charlie Humphries joining Myles Wright and Alex Duhameau.
Matlock made a bright start with a Joe West free kick flashing across the Bucks’ penalty box on six minutes but three minutes later the visitors were forced into an early change when Evans was left on the turf from a stray elbow from Jake Wright. Referee Jamie O’Connor even failed to award a free kick when on another day a red card may have been brandished to the offender.
DUHAMEAU entered the fray and within five minutes he was celebrating as West’s deep clearance caught Buxton out down the left, former Matlock goalkeeper Joe Young being way out of position as he came out to meet Crofts and although he blocked the original strike, the ball was crossed to the far post for the on loan Spireite to slide his shot into the opposite corner. In between the substitution and the goal, Saul Deeney did well to knock away a powerful Jack McCourt free kick diving away to his right.
On 18 minutes came more controversy although West’s faulty back pass towards Deeney did not help Matlock’s cause. The ball eventually fell to Joe Ackroyd, his shot hitting Yates on the line. Yates is adamant the ball struck him on the thigh but the referee ruled hand ball on the line and sent the popular Matlock defender to the dressing room. Maybe, justice was partly done as McCourt drove wide from the spot but Matlock now had it all to do without Yates and Evans.
Olly Clark, deployed as an emergency centre forward won more than his fair share of headers against Buxton’s Josh Granite and Luke Shiels as Matlock frustrated the National League North outfit. Passes went astray as Buxton laboured and Granite’s foul on Nat Crofts brought about a booking and a free kick from West which beat the diving Young but was narrowly too high.
George Wilkinson did well to head away a teasing free kick which Adam Livingston met on the run his power packed effort deflecting off two Matlock defenders for a fruitless corner.
Buxton picked up two more yellow cards in quick succession, Wright and Shiels being the recipients, Matlock boss Martin Carruthers joining them for proclaiming his displeasure about an alleged lack of protection for his players from the referee. Again on another day Shiels may have been sent off for an over the top challenge on Fin Armond.
So half time arrived with Matlock in front but knowing they faced a mammoth second half if they were to win against all the odds.
The expected barrage of Buxton pressure began with Wright shooting too high from an assist from Ben Anderucci and then Wright hitting the post with Deeney claiming the rebound. Former Gladiator Max Hunt became the fourth Buck to see a yellow card as Matlock held on.
But the ten men’s resistance cracked in the 65th minute as WRIGHT headed just inside Deeney’s right hand post after a cross from the right. The writing was on the wall for Matlock who conceded two more goals by the 71st minute. WRIGHT netted again, this time a diagonal far post header beating Deeney before Wright turned provider, dinking a ball forward which EOIN McKEOWAN dived to head home.
Matlock were left wondering what had hit them, Kornell McDonald getting in a fine interception to avert further harm to his side although he went down in pain but managed to swiftly recover.
A rather harsh scoreline on a patched up Matlock was completed when substitute DYLAN MOTLEY-HENRY found space to drill home a Livingston centre.
Harry Wood’s late header forced Young into a fine sprawling save but those devastating four goals in twenty minutes proved to be decisive, the Yates sending off and losing Evans being big factors.
The rub of the green definitely went Buxton’s way and as the tie progressed, Matlock understandably tired both physically and mentally. Buxton went for the kill to earn a place in the final against either Heanor Town or Long Eaton United.
BUXTON: 16 Joe Young 3 Adam Livingstone 4 Jak McCourt 5 Josh Granite (17 Eoin McKeown 37) 6 Luke Shiels 7 Jake Wright ( 14 Dylan Mottley-Henry 75) 12 Sam Minihan 18 Ben Andreucci 19 Max Brogan (8 Connor Kirby 57) 21 Joe Ackroyd 32 Max Hunt Other subs: 2 Connor Brown 15 Jake Hull
MATLOCK TOWN: 1 Saul Deeney 2 George Wilkinson 3 Joe West 4 Fin Armond (15 Charlie Wood 84) 5 Adam Yates 6 Ioan Evans (12 Alex Duhameau 11) 7 John Johnston 8 Nat Crofts 9 Olly Clark 10 Harry Wood 11 Kornell McDonald Other subs: 14 James Colbourne 16 Charlie Humphries 17 Myles Wright
REFEREE: Jamie O’Connor (Chesterfield) ATTENDANCE: 589 BEST GLADIATOR: George Wilkinson