Matlock Town came up short yesterday (08/11/25) as they were beaten by a well-organised and impressive Heaton Stannington side.
The visitors arrived at the Proctor Cars Stadium with a very impressive away record, having only lost to table-topping Redcar on the road this season. However it was probably Matlock who started the brighter of the two teams. 18 minutes in, their pressure finally came good. Connor Washington was dancing around the edge of the box and was tripped by a Stannington defender and Cameron Wilson dispatched it low into the bottom corner, sending the keeper the wrong way, giving Matlock the lead.
All this achieved though, was to push the visitors on and for the next few minutes, they grew into the game, actually putting the ball in the Gladiators net, although a foul had been given in the build-up. On the 26th minute though, they finally carved their opening. The Matlock defence failed to track the run of Errington, who successfully rounded Boney in the home net, to shoot into the bottom corner to level the scores.
Matlock created numerous chances throughout the second half to retake the lead, firstly through Jez Milambo who tried to dance through the back four, only for the Stannington goalkeeper to gather the ball easily. Washington also had another go, after some brilliant work from Ben Sault on the edge of the box, he slipped a lovely pass to Matlock’s number 9 but his low shot flew wide of the post.
Right on the stroke of half time, the home side finally did retake the lead. Washington dropped deep to pick up the ball and played a delightful through ball to Kiyani Clayton on the right wing, rather than shoot, the winger played the ball across to Ryan Viggars who bundled in his first goal for the Gladiators on his first start!
Half-time – Matlock Town 2-1 Heaton Stannington
After the restart was when it all started to go wrong. The alarm bells were first rang when Boney tried to take on one of the visiting striker, only to turn into another one. He managed to recover well though and the other debutant Calum MacDonald managed to clear. Milambo then went up the other end and manged to take on his man but once again, his shot was wide of the mark.
On the 65th minute, the Gladiators wasteful tactics came back to bite them as a lofted cross was delivered to the back post, landing perfectly at the feet of Leighton Hopper who had a relatively easy finish to level the game once again.
This was where the problems really started for Matlock, who’s game plan seemed to switch to attempting to play a long ball over the top for the strikers or wingers to chase, but the Stannington defence were first to absolutely everything and were resolute at the back.
Milambo had another go, this time dancing past three defenders but his shot was well saved by the visiting goalkeeper. Four minutes later, Washington had another go but again, the resolute defence of Heaton Stannington refused to be beaten.
In injury time at the end of the game, Matlock’s misery was finished as the visitors found themselves a winner. Charlie Oglesby attempted to hold the striker off as a way to run down the clock and I’m not overly sure if it was passed back, or he was challenged, but the ball fell to Hopper again. He was 1 on 1 with Boney and managed to round the keeper and finish from a tight angle.
Full-time – Matlock Town 2-3 Heaton Stannington
This performance seemed to summarise what we have seen in recent weeks from Matlock, who seem to struggle to break teams down. It seems as though they are waiting for the opposition defence to make a mistake, rather than using their quality to carve out opportunities for themselves. The Gladiators have another long trip North as they travel to face Bishop Auckland next weekend, hoping to get back to winning ways and put this blip in form behind them.
Matlock XI – 1. Boney, 2. Eratt-Thompson, 3. Milambo, 4. Macdonald, 5. Mbayo, 6. Oglesby (C), 7. Clayton (Thompson 67’), 8. Sault, 9. Washington, 10. Viggars (De Girolamo 67’), 11. Wilson
Heaton Stannington XI – 1. Gordon, 2. Evans, 3. Chrisp, 4. Burn, 5. Capewell, 6. Shepherd, 7. Hopper, 8. Slaughter (C), 9. Errington (Storey 63’), 10. Stephenson, 11. Lamb (Adamson 75’)
By Chris Wood for North Derbyshire Radio
