Gladiators guard against double blow

Matlock Town are on their guard to make sure they aren't undone by a former player for the second week running at Stocksbridge Park Steels on Saturday, writes Ian Richardson.

Last weekend, Tyeisse Nightingale, who had six months at the Reynolds Stadium last season, scored the decider for Eastwood in their 1-0 smash and grab raid at the Reynolds Stadium.

The Gladiators now face Nathan Joynes, who left to join Steels last Friday and netted a brace in their 3-0 against Rushall Olympic on Tuesday, the Steels' first home victory of the season which took the Yorkshiremen above Matlock in the table.

Matlock’s manager Mark Atkins, pictured, knows his side are under pressure with just two league wins to date, a double over fellow strugglers Frickley Athletic, but insists they are good enough to cope and start picking up vital league points.

Atkins said: "It does put pressure on us. There's no excuses, we've not been good enough to take our chances. We've got to be able to handle the pressure but I still believe we've enough quality to see us start picking up points to push us up the league."

Matlock are a point behind Stocksbridge but have two games in hand and should have comfortably beaten Eastwood at the weekend given their dominance of the possession. According to their manager, the players left their shooting boots in the dressing room. They also need to work harder and quickly start learning to live with the pressure of the Evo-Stik NPL Premier Division.

"We dominated the game without making their goalkeeper work," said Atkins. "Our finishing was poor, there was a lack of concentration and I would even go as far to say we were lazy going forward. It cost us the game.

"Eastwood had one chance and scored and I was disappointed how easily the ball got into our box. We were on top for the whole game but we couldn't take the chances and that's the be all and end all of what football's about."

After the weekend’s Stocksbridge test the pressure continues when Matlock return to home soil next Tuesday to take on promotion chasing Chorley.

Atkins added: "Whether a team is below us, near us or well above us, every game becomes important. Now we've really got to work at it, starting on Saturday. I thought we'd turned a corner before the Eastwood result but I believe we're capable of collecting the points we need.

"Stocksbridge will make life hard for us and Chorley are a good side with good strikers and are physical and strong. But we beat them 4-0 at home last year when they were top of the league, so it's got to be about us, how we perform."