Atkins turns up the pressure

Mark Atkins reckons all the pressure will be on Matlock's opponents when they kick off against sides tipped to get the better of them in the their next four outings, starting with Saturday's trip to Chorley, writes Ian Richardson.

Matlock Town reached the last eight of the Doodson Sport Cup on Tuesday night with a 2-1 win at Evo-Stik NPL Premier Division rivals Grantham Town. Atkins, pictured, insists the belief in his injury hit squad means they're ready for Victory Park and then fixtures at home to in-form FC United of Manchester next Wednesday night followed by trips to Hednesford and then Ashton United.

Top scorer Lewis McMahon could also return in the next week or so with hopes of adding to his 19 goals so far this season. The striker was carried off with ankle ligament damage in the 4-1 Derbyshire Senior Cup win against Borrowash Victoria on January 29. But he's unlikely to feature until Saturday week and will definitely miss taking on FCUM who've won their last nine games on the spin.

The Gladiators manager, whose side earned a home tie against Farsley FC on March 19 with their win at the Gingerbreads, said: "Most people will be expecting us to get beat in these games, given the opposition and our lack of numbers for one reason or another but the fact is we don't feel that way.

"They're tough games the lot of them. In our next two games we go to Chorley, which is always a tough place to go to, and then we have a very much in form FC United at our place. But on our day we can match anyone in the league and I'm sure the players will be going into these games believing they can win them."

That was the case against Chorley back in October when Massiah McDonald struck the only goal to give Matlock maximum points and Atkins added: "It was a tight game that night but we battled hard, defended well and we were dangerous going forward, so we'll go up there on Saturday looking for a similar performance and result."

Matlock's unbeaten league and cup run ground to a halt at seven games last Saturday at the Reynolds Stadium when play-off hopefuls Witton Albion scored from both of their two shots at goal to snatch a 2-1 win. Matlock slipped back to 17th spot and had captain James Lukic carried off with a knee injury late in the first half.

Atkins was unhappy with his side's defending but still felt they deserved a share of the points. He said: "The result was disappointing, the performance was okay for we matched them and deserved at least a point. There weren't a lot of chances. We gave away the first goal through a stupid penalty and the second goal came from the one time we didn't defend properly and these small margins of error are important when you play the top teams.

"Losing James Lukic was a big blow, everyone knows that but Laurence Gaughan came on and did well and we hope that James will be back sooner rather than later. We're down to the bare bones so I might have to see if I can bring someone in but that adds to the wage budget.

"We had ten fit regular players and then picked up a couple more injuries in the game. Will Dennis and Anthony Griffiths-Junior had to come off. It was a shame for Will who'd played very well against Witton. Martin Foster had a back strain but wanted to play and was great for us. We had three young lads on the bench which was good to see plus Ryan Hindley for his experience but there was quality there and I was pleased with the win."

James Travis, who began with the under 19's and then progressed further through the Gladiators reserve side, turned in a man of the match performance after replacing the unfortunate Dennis in the 18th minute.

He received a glowing report from Atkins, who added: "It was touch and go whether I started him but really I didn't want two inexperienced lads as full backs but he came on and played exceptionally well. He was strong, held his position well, so we were all extremely pleased with him and he should be really proud with himself. He's now part of the first team squad, I now know he can do a job there at left back when needed."