Winger Morris departs Proctor Cars Stadium

Matlock Town have released young winger Ben Morris and he is expected to join BetVictor Southern Premier League Central side Barwell.

The 21 year old joined Matlock in the summer from Eastwood Community having had previous NPL experience with the now defunct Ilkeston FC.

But he has been a long way down the pecking order and has found his first team opportunities limited to only two substitute appearances, at Borrowash Victoria in the Derbyshire Senior Cup and a brief outing in the home league game with Hyde United at the beginning of February.

Matlock though have an abundance of wide players with newly signed Jude Oyibo, Tomas Poole, Dan Bramall, Sam Scrivens and Piteu Crouz all having played in a wide role for the Gladiators this season.

“Ben’s been extremely patient and has always made himself available for selection, often sitting on the bench or watching from the stand. We understand that players want to play so he leaves with our thanks and all our good wishes for the future” said a Matlock spokesman.

The Gladiators travel to Atherton Colleries on Saturday hoping that the snow that has fallen in the Greater Manchester area on Wednesday rapidly disappears. With seventeen league matches to fit in, Matlock can ill afford to be idle once again. Twenty years old Goalkeeper Kyle Trenerry, signed from last season’s NPL Title winners Farsley Celtic, is expected to make his Matlock debut.

Ian Richardson