Matlock Town News 11 July 2024
Nicky Law is expecting an even tougher test for his Matlock Town players in their second home pre season outing against Derby County on Friday night.
He was pleased to see his charges come through a demanding opening match against Chesterfield last Saturday afternoon which ended in a scoreless draw with the Gladiators taking the Ernie Moss Challenge Cup for the first time after a 5-3 penalty shoot out win. The corresponding fixture twelve months earlier saw the Spireites go goal crazy in a 9-0 win.
A repeat was never on the cards with Law saying his players to a man had done everything asked of them.
Looking ahead to Friday which for the second successive season has attracted a sell out audience, the Matlock boss says the game will be a notch or two up in difficulty from last weekend with the Rams being newly promoted to the Championship.
“I’m led to believe they’ll be bringing their first team squad and with all respect to Chesterfield this will be a more stern test. It’ll be another game when we’ll spend long periods without the ball so again, we must ensure we’re as good as we can be and repeat what we did last Saturday. We did well against Chesterfield but I expect Derby to be equally as good if not better given the league they’ll be in.”
As things stand, Matlock have an eleven day break until they travel to Buxton on Tuesday July 23 but Law intends to fit in another fixture in between. Following the Buxton match, it’s a trip to Dronfield to face Sheffield FC on Saturday July 27 and a further game to the original published list comes on Tuesday July 30 when Matlock host Cleethorpes Town (7.45pm).
Like Sheffield, Cleethorpes ply their trade in the NPL Eastern Division one rung below Town in the non league pyramid. Their pre season programme concludes as Alfreton Town and Matlock contest the Jordan Sinnott Cup at the Impact Arena on Saturday 3 August before Nigel Clough sends his Mansfield Town first team to the Proctor Cars Stadium on Tuesday August 6.
Matlock are hoping to complete the signing of a striker in the coming days but Law maintains that patience is the key as he looks to add to his squad. Last week he stated that he needs “ four, five, maybe six” additions and although the start of the new NPL season is now less than a month away, Law says patience is the key.
“Players will probably become available in the next week or so and we’ll be looking to step in to get the players we need. There’s a long way to go until August 10 and I’ll be out at games checking on players who can fit the bill for us.”
Ian Richardson 10.07.24