Atikins looks back for boost

"Remember what happened last year when we played a Blue Square North side" will be the message from Matlock manager Mark Atkins to his troops ahead of this weekend's FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round home clash with Hinckley United.

Just under twelve months ago, Matlock had home advantage against Eastwood Town, from the same division as Hinckley,in the Third Qualifying Round, but badly fluffed their lines, going down with barely a whimper as the Badgers won 3-0.

"We don't want a repeat of the Eastwood game when we never got going after giving away a sloppy goal almost straightaway" Atkins stressed. "That was a very disappointing afternoon for us".

Atkins has done his preparation by watching the 6th placed Knitters lose 2-0 at Boston United last week, and he plans to speak to Histon boss Dave Livermore whose side won 3-0 in Leicestershire last Saturday.

"Hinckley are a good side, they're in the division above us so we need to show them due respect. It's a good game for us to test ourselves against a side in the league we want to get into.Home advantage gives us a good chance and it's up to us to make the most of that. Certainly it would be great to see a good crowd in getting behind the players. Having seen Hinckley play I think there's one or two things we could exploit but our attitude's got to be right and we've got to show the determination required to get through. We'll certainly be punished if we play like we started up atWhitby last Saturday and for spells in the second half against North Ferriby in midweek."

Those two games did yield four points for Matlock to maintain their eighth spot. A great Chris Bettney free kick brought about an equaliser at the seaside while an Ian Holmes brace sandwiched a fine strike from Liam King to send North Ferriby home pointless.

"We weren't at the races early on at Whitby, we allowed them far too much space. Chris Bettney's piece of magic woke us up but overall we didn't have the killer instinct and a draw was about fair" Atkins concluded. "Then on Wednesday we were excellent in the first half, we scored two great goals and then in the second half two or three players started to do their own thing and not what they were told to do. You only need one or two players doing that and it can lead to trouble. But we scored a third goal which made the score just about right as Ferriby didn't really trouble us."

Atkins has some injury concerns ahead of Hinckley's visit. Lee Featherstone and Kris Bowler picked up ankle and knee injuries respectively in midweek to make them doubtful and Atkins will be closely monitoring Chris Bettney's progress after a nose operation which forced him to miss out on Wednesday. But striker Nathan Joynes is likely to be added to the squad after his return from holiday which followed a short loan spell at Ossett Town.

If a replay is required it will be at the Greene King Stadium on Tuesday (7.45 pm).