Atkins slams late arrivals

Few people would have guessed that Matlock boss Mark Atkins would be blasting his players just three days after they demolished the visiting league leaders Chorley at the Reynolds Stadium last Saturday.

The Gladiators produced their best performance for many months to thrash the Magpies 4-0 and Atkins and the fans had every reason to be confident ahead of their trip to mid table Nantwich Town last Tuesday night.

But Matlock never got going at the Weaver Stadium as the "After the Lord Mayor's Show" syndrome came into play. They deservedly lost the game 2-1, their third league defeat of the season.

"As good as we were on Saturday, we were as bad tonight" rapped Atkins afterwards.

"It was so annoying after a great performance on Saturday" the clearly angry boss continued. "There were certain factors to blame. There was no desire, no commitment, players were ducking out of tackles and if it wasn't for the back four who were superb in restricting the chances that Nantwich had, we'd have been on the end of a hammering ourselves. They kept us in it."

Atkins said that one of the main factors behind the lethargic display was his side's preparation for the game.

"The last thing I said to the players after the match on Saturday was don't be late on Tuesday. Four of them turned up late and that disrupts everything. Things like these do matter, they could have given me a bell to warn me. I'm trying to run things as professionally as I can, if you go into the game having prepared correctly and in the right frame of mind, the chances are you'll be okay when it comes to the game.

"Three lads were sat at home who would have died to have been here tonight. turning up late shows a lack of respect to their fellow team mates and the management. You're only as good as your last game and on tonight's showing we're a poor side. It looks like I'll have a lot of thinking to do and some big decisions to make for the Northwich game on Saturday."

Matlock gave away two bad goals which Atkins put down to "experienced players doing daft things."

"Chris Bettney decided to stick up a hand for the penalty when there was no need and for the second we've decided to clear the ball across our own box. we gave the ball away so much it was ridiculous. The fact we lost is through our own fault, no-one else's, there's no excuses, the better side won the game."

Atkins had hoped to retain the same starting line up and substitutes from the Chorley win and initially he did, until Micky Harcourt felt ill after the team sheet had been submitted. This meant a reshuffle with Liam King slotting into Harcourt's full back position with Kris Bowler coming into the midfield.

"Losing Micky was a big, big blow but we still should have had enough to have got something from the game" the boss concluded.

It was all so different against Chorley with Nathan Joynes earning star rating in a display where nobody hardly put a foot wrong. Joynes notched his first Matlock hat-trick to add to Bettney's superbly struck opener.

"We were excellent on Saturday, we dominated from start to finish and took our chances. It's so much easier when you establish a two goal lead, everything went the way we wanted using our two wingers and Nathan got the goals he deserved from his fine performance. But the Nantwich game has overshadowed that."

Matlock gave a debut to full back Oscar Radford who is on a month's loan from Championship club Doncaster Rovers. He has played soundly in both games, but some Matlock players could be sweating somewhat on being in the team to face new league leaders Northwich, who replaced Chorley at the summit last weekend.

At least Matlock have tended to play better against the top clubs.

"That's true but as I said to the players, you don't win league titles by just beating the top clubs. You've got to go to places like Nantwich and get a result, they need that mentality. A 0-0 draw would have been acceptable there."

The Gladiators now know their opponents in the FA Trophy next weekend. Stamford beat fellow Evo-Stik NPL First Division South club Coalville Town 5-4 after being 3-0 behind in just half an hour. Matlock should be favourites, particularly with home advantage but Atkins and Matlock will take nothing for granted. if a replay is required, it will be at the Vic Cousens Stadium on Tuesday October 25.

Last Sunday saw a whole host of former Matlock Town players back in action at the Reynolds Stadium in the Sam Broach Memorial Cup game. Some had not played for a number of years but put in a great stint only to lose 6-3 to a Matlock United Select team.

Dave McNicholas, Richard Taylor, Steve Circuit, Stacy Reed, Ian Askey, Danny Campbell, Mark Shaw, Leon Wainman, Marcus Brameld and Lee Wainwright all turned out as a total of £624 was raised with the organisers donating half of the proceeds to the Gladiators.

"That was a tremendous gesture, we were delighted to stage the match at our ground and we will be equally delighted to offer them our facilities next year" said a club spokesman.