Matlock Town FC vs Stafford Rangers
Matlock Town FC
1The Proctor Cars Stadium
Northern Premier League
Stafford Rangers
3Match Report
MATLOCK TOWN 1-3 STAFFORD RANGERS
2023 ended in nightmare fashion for the Gladiators who were never at the races against bottom markers Stafford Rangers who won easily at the Proctor Cars Stadium on Saturday.
A combination of a poor Matlock performance and a Stafford side inspired by the Cooke family, manager Dave and son Sean who was outstanding in midfield being the catalyst for many incisive Stafford attacks made it a miserable afternoon for manager Martin Carruthers and the majority of a good 892 crowd on a dank and dark day. Stafford certainly did not look like a foot of the table side and a few more performances and results like this will see them surely move out of the relegation zone.
Matlock made one change from the team which won the Boxing Day derby at Ilkeston, Adam Yates returning to the defence with George Wilkinson dropping to the substitutes bench,
Carruthers always stresses the importance of a good start and getting at the opposition but once again that did not happen with Stafford getting an early foothold going close when Tyrese Onyeka’s deflected drive was well held by Town custodian Saul Deeney. Connor Heath fired an effort directly at Deeney and a miskick by Ioan Evans from a right wing cross could have gone anywhere, in fact it looped out to where Kornell McDonald could clear his lines.
Matlock found a response when Joe West’s effort was blocked by Cameron Belford following a smart short corner routine who shortly afterwards pushed clear a shot from John Johnston.
Jonny Margetts fired wide from eighteen yards but Matlock were guilty of not beating the first man with their crosses and set pieces, except for a couple of balls in from Johnston that caused worry in the visiting back line, Stafford though looked far more dangerous when they came forward and they effectively won the contest with a double whammy of goals within three minutes.
Just after the half hour mark a mistimed challenge by Nathan Whitehead on Cooke saw KAIMAN ANDERSON convert from the spot for the second time against Matlock this season, Then terrible defending by Matlock allowed CONNOR HEATH the time and space to turn and shoot low into the corner to put the Gladiators in dire straits. However, it might have been different for in between the goals, Margetts had a chance that he would feel he would normally despatch but he shot narrowly wide when well placed.
But with a two goals advantage, Rangers swarmed all over Matlock up until the half time and a two goal interval deficit could easily have been doubled.
A strike from Onyeka was deflected for a corner and further efforts from Heath and Onyeka were charged down with Matlock at sixes and sevens. An acrobatic overhead attempt by Cooke was only a couple of feet wide .It would need a telling team talk from Carruthers at half time to turn things around when he took off Harry Wood and Finlay Armond and brought on Ollie Clark and Karl Demidh.
Matlock badly needed the next goal but Stafford reassumed control, winning a couple of free kicks beautifully delivered by Cooke which Deeney did well to collect. Heath had a strike which skimmed a Matlock defender for a fruitless corner and Anderson had the ball in the net following a clever through pass from Cooke but the offside flag saved the Gladiators.
Demidh had a free kick saved at full stretch by Belford but there looked little sign of a fightback although Ben Woods cleared a header from Margetts off the line.
Stafford put the game to bed on 69 minutes when COOKE turned to hit a worldy from at least 35 yards which fizzed over Deeney for a quite stunning and magnificent goal, one which will surely be a candidate for goal of the season in the NPL.
Johnston did his level best to keep up the fight for Matlock on a day when so many of his colleagues failed to show up, a fine cross being nodded wide by Margetts, it clearly wasn’t the league’s top scorer’s day.
Matlock at last began to play when it was much too late to affect the outcome and they got a consolation when substitute MICHAEL WILLIAMS found a gap in the box to tuck away a low shot into the corner, but this was in the 90th minute. There were two penalty appeals turned down for handball by referee Tom Hales but Matlock could have no complaints with the result or the performance, described by Carruthers as “embarrassing”.
It was just their second home reverse of the season and a case of the players looking at themselves in the mirror and asking did I do enough? That question should be easy enough to answer.
MATLOCK TOWN: 1 Saul Deeney 2 Kornell McDonald 3 Joe West 4 Nathan Whitehead 5 Adam Yates 6 Ioan Evans 7 John Johnston 8 Harry Wood (15 Ollie Clark 46) 9 Finlay Armond (12 Karl Demidh 46) 10 Jonny Margetts 11 Anthony Dwyer (18 Michael Williams 67) Other subs: 14 Alex Duhumeau 16 George Wilkinson
STAFFORD RANGERS: 1 Cameron Belford 2 Andrew Burns 3 Ben Woods 4 Joe Willis 5 Ethan Stewart 6 Jake Moult 7 Tyreece Onyeka (14 Niah Payne 78) 8 Sam Bird 9 Kaiman Anderson 10 Sean Cooke (16 Ethan Morgan 85) 11 Connor Heath Other subs: 12 A J Leitch-Smith 15 Nathan Blissett 17 Derek Ubah
REFEREE: Tom Hales (Long Eaton) ATTENDANCE: 892 BEST GLADIATOR: John Johnston