Gladiators put on notice at arena

The Gladiators were booed off by a section of the crowd after last weekend's 2-0 loss at home to Barwell and were put on notice by joint Gladiators bosses Craig Hopkins and Glenn Kirkwood ahead of the club's trip to Mickleover Sports on Saturday.

The duo - who head to their former club in the EVO-STIK League Premier Division on the back of a meager return of one point from their last four games - are also taking responsibility for the disappointing run which will be extended unless Town can record their first ever win in a competitive fixture at Station Road.

Crowds at Causeway Lane, pictured, are in the top five in the top flight's average home attendances chart this season and Hopkins hailed the club's fans for their backing despite their poor form.

He said: “The players as well as me and Kirky have to take responsibility for what’s happened, there’ll be no passing the buck. There’ll be a turnover of players imminently and in the close season, so now the lads are playing for their places at the club.

“It was a brilliant crowd and seeing how many were there surprised us a little. We got fantastic support but were poor again although over the ninety minutes we thought we were the better side. Our biggest problem again was being unable to find the net, poor finishing cost us although our general play wasn’t great.

"It’s a massive problem for us, we can’t butter it up, it’s not just good enough, too many players are under-performing. We’re where we deserve to be after twenty odd games and it’s a reality check for people.”

Confirming the Gladiators were actively looking to increase their forward options, he added: “We were gazumped on a couple of forwards last week when we thought we’d got them. We need to have four forwards in the squad but at the moment we have only two so we have a lack of attacking options on the bench.

"We’re hoping to resolve that very quickly for we’ve had to try and get the best out of what we’ve got and to be honest the players we have now need to take a look at themselves.”

Images courtesy of @Matlock_TownFC/Twitter

Follow us: @evostikleague on Twitter | Facebook www.facebook.com/evostikleague