Dimaio set for long injury lay off

Matlock Town and Connor Dimaio have received the news they didn’t want to hear as the diagnosis of his knee injury has been revealed.

The 26 years old midfielder found out the result of a scan which revealed a damaged cruciate ligament which is likely to keep him out of action for ten to twelve months.

Dimaio fell to the turf suddenly in the 1-1 draw at home to Ashton United on March 4 before limping off the pitch in agony, later leaving the Proctor Cars Stadium on crutches,

Formerly with Sheffield United and Chesterfield, he only joined the Gladiators in February from National League North Curzon Ashton having previously been with Boston United in the same division.

But in his six starts for the Gladiators he has proved to be a diamond in their midfield with some impressive skilful and committed performances that have soon made him popular with the Matlock fan base, He has scored one goal for the Gladiators so far, giving them a 37th minute lead at league leaders South Shields before the title favourites drew level five minutes from time.

Matlock manager Martin Carruthers echoed the thoughts of all connected with the Gladiators.

“This is terrible news for us all but particularly for Connor and our thoughts go out to him and his family. We had signed one hell of a player and his performances had shown us what a great player he is. We’re all devastated for him, a fine player who loves playing football and loves playing for Matlock Town, It’ll be a long time out for him, probably ten to twelve months so realistically that’ll take us through to February or March next year As a club we’ll support him in every way we can, one thing is for certain, he’ll be sorely missed.”

Ian Richardson