Matlock Town FC vs Sutton Coldfield Town

Matlock Town FC

3

FT

The Proctor Cars Stadium

FA Trophy

Sutton Coldfield Town

0

Match Report

MATLOCK TOWN 3-0 SUTTON COLDFIELD TOWN

There was a kind of magic in Jordan Barnett’s five star performance as the Gladiators made light work of beating visiting Sutton Coldfield Town in the Isuzu F A Trophy on Saturday.

Barnett scored two outstanding and exquisite second half goals to add to the early goal from skipper Ryan Qualter as a potential banana skin was safely negotiated.

Qualter returned at the heart of the defence to partner Jamie Sharman with Ioan Evans missing with hamstring trouble. Jorome Slew and Simon Njaria came in for Callum Chippendale and Dom McHale while Kallan Murphy was back in the number nine shirt with Shaun Tuton on the bench.

Kick off was delayed for seven minutes as the referee Matt Bacon picked up an injury in the warm up but after much deliberation he decided the show must go on and thankfully the official was not put under pressure during the ninety minutes.

Matlock began on the front foot with Slew and Barnett having successive shots blocked, the second for a corner which saw Qualter’s effort deflected over the bar, but from the second flag kick nobody in as grey shirt tracked QUALTER who headed the hosts in front on 5 minutes.

There would be no respite for the Royals, Slew leaving his marker on his backside with some sublime skill to find Kallum Mantack whose low cross was met by Murphy whose effort was bundled off the line.

Wiles shot at goalkeeper Jonathan Brown from the corner and as the Royals were kept under severe pressure three quick shots being hacked off the line.

Sutton Coldfield wanted to break free and they did in the 19th minute when they advanced with pace and James Spruce forced Pollard into punching away his fiercely hit shot.

Barnett tried an audacious lob from the half way line which dropped wide before Sutton had a brief good spell around the half hour mark as Pollard stopped an effort from Trea Bertie with Rhys Hilton continuing the move, his shot being eventually cleared up/

This saw a positive response from the Gladiators, Brown making a fine save from a Qualter header as the small Sutton side had trouble coping with set pieces in the air at the back.

Brown kept Sutton in contention as he beat aside two attempts from Reece Kendall before Matlock thought they had been awarded a penalty when Slew was sent tumbling but the assistant intervened saying it was outside the box, Barnett’s free kick being well saved by Brown.

Matlock should have been out of reach by the interval but Barnett then ensured there would be no way back for Sutton.

Wiles glanced wide after 54 minutes and was brought down shortly afterwards and the visitors paid dearly as BARNETT struck a wonderful free kick into the very top corner, giving Brown no chance whatsoever of keeping the ball out.

Then Mark Lees, who played with a knock, nearly netted his first Matlock goal, Brown again rescuing the Royals with a great save after Lees had run on to an assist from Slew to shoot powerfully goalwards.

Kendall nodded a corner wide at the far post, looking disappointed and frustrated that he had not found the onion bag but BARNETT struck again with fifteen minutes remaining, latching on to a slack Sutton pass to step forward and lift a magnificent, delicate and delicious lob over Brown and into the net for a quite breathtaking goal.

Slew shot into the sidenetting after Kendall had found him on the right with a pin point Crossfield pass, Sutton’s only shot of the second half coming from the busy Hilton who cut in and forced Pollard to catch his shot.

So another one bites the dust as Matlock extended their unbeaten run to four games with three clean sheets in that sequence.

Sutton never looked like causing an upset as Matlock emerged £2450 better off with the victory which was as comprehensive as the scoreline suggests.

MATLOCK TOWN: 1 Jim Pollard 2 Kallum Mantack 3 Reece Kendall 4 Mark Lees 5 Jamie Sharman 6 Ryan Qualter 7 Jorome Slew (14 Shaun Tuton 77) 8 Simon Njaria (12 Reon Benjamin-Potts 71) 9 Kallan Murphy 10 Alex Wiles (15 Sean Higgins 80) 11 Jordan Barnett.

SUTTON COLDFIELD TOWN: 1 Jonathan Brown 2 Harry Sawyer 3 Tom Armitage 4 Yahiya Todd 5 James Beresford 6 Aboui Adegbola 7 Ceesay Dampha (18 Sam Ellis 65) 8 Cameron Collins 9 Trea Bertie (16 Fortune Maphosa 46) 10 Rhys Hilton 11 James Spruce Other subs: 12 John Mills 14 Stuart Hendrie 15 Will Mansfield 17 Kieran Hart 19 Tom Hurley

REFEREE: Matt Bacon (Mexborough) ATTENDANCE: 489 BEST GLADIATOR: Jordan Barnett