By Chris Wood for North Derbyshire Radio
Matlock Town successfully made it back to back wins in the NPL East Division today after successfully defeating Morpeth Town in what is one of the longest away trips of the season.
The long journey up to Northumberland didn’t seem to trouble Ricky Ravenhill’s men who managed to pick up an away win at the first time of asking this season. It was a tenacious and hard-fought performance at times but Matlock were good value for the win.
For the first 20 minutes of the encounter, there was very little to report on. Matlock tried to put together some intricate passing moves but ultimately didn’t really test the Morpeth defence all that much. The most notable (and concerning) moment of the opening stages was Bachirou having to be replaced due to an injury. Hopefully it isn’t too serious for the Gladiators’ midfielder although it seems to have been his hamstring that’s the problem.
Within the next 10 minutes, the hosts started to come alive and actually had the best chance of the first half. They broke forward at pace from a Matlock corner and James found himself in space. His low effort beat Dewhurst but thankfully hit the post and Andoh was able to put it behind for a corner.
Morpeth would have another chance before the half was out as their number 9 found himself with a free header in the Matlock box. His header was straight at Dewhurst in an easy save for the goalkeeper.
Half-Time – Morpeth Town 0-0 Matlock Town
Throughout the second half, the game definitely came alive, with both sides creating more chances and putting much more pressure on each other’s defences.
Just inside the hour mark, the increasing tension threatened to boil over. Milambo won a free kick in the left-back position but it looked like (admittedly from the other end of the pitch) that he was stamped on by the Morpeth forward. A mini brawl ensued and 2 yellow cards were shown, 1 for each team. This is the second ‘brawl’ in 2 games for Matlock which isn’t a lot but it is weird that it’s happened twice so close together!
Shortly after this came Matlock’s first goal. Some excellent defending from Milambo as he forced the Morpeth winger back towards his own box. Elliott was then able to nip in and nick the ball before being brought down in the box to give the visitors a penalty. Up stepped Abbey to send the keeper the wrong way and score his 3rd in 3 games! An excellent start to the campaign for the Gladiators’ forward.
The hosts really started to ramp up the pressure after going behind. They had a few opportunities across the next half an hour but the Gladiators’ defence were equal to them all. Limiting Morpeth to shots that went high and wide, or some excellent saves from Dewhurst, hoping to keep a clean sheet for the first time this season.
Deep into injury time, Matlock had their second. They’d been playing a lot in the corners to wind the clock down but no one seemed to tell Bradbury about that plan! Some excellent pressure from the Midfielder saw him pinch the ball deep into the Morpeth half. A couple of strides later, he was on the edge of the box before curling an effort into the top corner with the outside of his boot to make sure of the 3 points!
Full-Time – Morpeth Town 0-2 Matlock Town
An excellent away performance from the Gladiators this afternoon who had to dig in and do their fair share of defending, particularly during that second half. The football that they tried to play, as well as the defensive prowess will have given manager Ricky Ravenhill a lot to be pleased with before another away trip on Tuesday night.
The only concern for Matlock will be a few injuries that were sustained this afternoon. Bachirou, Eratt-Thompson and new signing Gardner all leaving the field injured today (the latter meaning that Matlock finished the game with 10 men!) Hopefully some of these injuries are not as bad as first thought and there will be no injury headache for Ravenhill at this early point in the season.
Matlock’s next game is away at Ossett United. Kick-off is 7:45pm
Morpeth XI – 1. Langley, 2. Chater (King 67’), 3. Miller, 4. Hancox, 5. Henderson (C), 6. Robson (Hodgson 90+4’), 7. Rivers (Chungh 67’), 8. Dowling (Holvey 74’), 9. Lennox, 10. James, 11. Burns (Barlow 60’)
Matlock XI – 1. Dewhurst, 2. Andoh, 3. Milambo, 4. Bachirou (Waldram 19’), 5. Cummings (C), 6. Asante-Boakye, 7. Eratt-Thompson (Jeffers 80’), 8. Bradbury, 9. Hughes (Gardner 46’), 10. Elliott, 11. Abbey (Washington 71’)
