Weekly News | 7.6.23
Matlock Town officials are urging supporters planning on attending the pre season friendly with Chesterfield at the Proctor Cars Stadium to purchase their ticket online.
The Spireites come to town for the now annual game on Tuesday 4 July (7.45pm) when the teams will contest the Ernie Moss Trophy, which Chesterfield won for the first time in sweltering July heat. That game, played on a Saturday, was a sell out and Matlock Chairman Jay Beaumont says he wouldn’t be surprised if this year’s match attracted a similarly high crowd. Matlock’s home friendly with Derby County four days later sold out within four days of tickets being released.
“We’ve sold over 750 tickets for the Chesterfield match so far and I would suggest that the demand will carry on at the same rate over the next week or so given that the game is very popular with both sets of fans. We don’t want anyone who is really wanting to see the game to miss out, so I would urge people to go on our website and purchase their tickets online in advance. Doing so would also decrease congestion at the turnstiles on the night.”
Tickets are also online for the games against Buxton on Wednesday 12 July, Notts County on Tuesday 18 July and Mansfield Town on Tuesday 1 August. The visit of Nigel Clough’s side has attracted a big gate for the past two years.
Meanwhile the Matlock squad will return for pre season training in a little over two weeks time, some have been taking advantage of fitness sessions provided by physio Andy Henson. Although Connor Dimaio will still be out for a good while further following his knee surgery at the end of April, it was encouraging to see him taking part in one of these sessions as he works his way back to full fitness.
Manager Martin Carruthers remains hot on the heels of further additions to his squad but will not be rushed into anything.
“I’m very pleased with the business we’ve done so far, there’s just one or two positions such as the midfield area I want to bolster” said Carruthers.
Carruthers confirmed that youngsters Archie White, Alex Duhameau and Sam Hooper who were brought in towards the end of last season, will again be featuring for the Gladiators in the coming season.
Duhameau had virtually the second half of the 2022/23 campaign at the Proctor Cars Stadium, his best moment probably being scoring the deciding goal against Atherton Colleries on 8 April which maintained Matlock’s successful pursuit of a play-off spot. White, the son of former Matlock midfield maestro Rockie White, was called up to face Marine on 4 April and claimed the man of the match award on his debut for a scintillating attacking performance on the left, capped by his cross creating the winning goal for Karl Demidh in a 3-2 victory.
Ian Richardson