Matlock Town confirm departure of manager Ryan Cresswell

The departure of former Sheffield boss Cresswell was confirmed following Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Bamber Bridge.

That loss, coupled with other results going against them, mean the Gladiators are now four points from safety in the Northern Premier League's bottom four with seven games left to play.

Matlock find themselves 11 games with victory, their last win coming at home to Prescot Cables on January 14.

Also leaving the club are assistant manager John Rimmington, first team coach Jamie Yates and goalkeeping coach Rich Lawrence.

In a statement confirming Cresswell's departure, Matlock said: "Ryan has worked tirelessly under extremely difficult circumstances since arriving at Matlock Town FC.

"He had to oversee the complete overhaul of a 19-man squad, by accessing an extremely limited market due to most players being under contract at other clubs.

"He has also needed to rely heavily on the loan market, testing promising but untested players at the level whilst having the successful ones recalled by their parent clubs on many occasions.

"His squad, like most, has suffered injuries and suspensions meaning further recruitment was necessary, again in a very limited market. Many of the players available during a season are not playing regular football, and so getting them up to match fitness is also often a challenge.

"He, at times, had to deal with players leaving at their own request, some understandably due to offers at a higher level, along with disciplinary issues as was the case with Sam Essien’s departure. Ryan has always acted in an exemplary and professional fashion.

"The results Ryan has achieved under all of those circumstances and having had to gel a new squad part way into a season have been good. We have averaged 1.4 points per game under Ryan and we are certain that had he received the luxury of a summer recruitment along with a full pre-season, he would have had us challenging at the right end of the table.

"Unfortunately, despite in most cases being extremely difficult to beat, our poor run of results has come at the wrong time in our season and the club felt the only real option after yesterday’s result at Bamber Bridge was to make a change.

"We would like to thank Ryan for his immense efforts over the last few months. He will be sorely missed by everyone at the club."

The club are back in action this coming Saturday, March 22, against already-relegated Blyth Spartans.