'Mentality has to change' - Carruthers keen to address Matlock's away day woes

Last week's result came after a recent spell of games where the Gladiators seemingly couldn’t stop scoring, netting 15 goals in their previous four matches.

Furthermore, their latest defeat was a drop-off from recent away results, after a win was secured at Stafford Rangers and a point picked up at last season's beaten play-off semi-finalists Gainsborough Trinity.

Carruthers’ admits he can’t nail down the reasoning for their latest disappointing away day outing.

“Six or seven of them simply weren’t at the races on Saturday,” he said. “Any team can’t afford that to happen if they’re going to be successful.

“I just can’t put my finger on it, how we can go from such a high in our home fixtures to the low we get to away from home. But, as bad as we played we still could have got something out of the
game.”

Matlock did have their chances to try and salvage a result. However they were not taken, with the Gladiators relying too much on forward Jonathan Margetts to bail the side out on the road, according to their manager.

“We can’t keep relying on Jonny Margetts to get us out of trouble, we need to stay in games and not concede and then try to nick a goal away from home.” Carruthers added.

“We have to be stronger mentally and be robust out of possession.

“We talked about it on Tuesday, the lack of talking, communication and leaders on the park. We miss someone of the likes of Ryan Qualter. I’m trying to bring in an experienced midfield
player who can dictate things for us, but they’re very hard to find.”

On the flip side, Matlock have claimed three wins and one draw from four home matches this season.

They welcome third-placed Warrington Rylands to the Proctor Cars Stadium this weekend, with the Blues having only list once to top-of-the-pack Radcliffe, earning a draw at Macclesfield and thumping FC United of Manchester 4-0 in the FA Cup.

The Gladiators are expected to welcome back forward Karl Demidh, Ewan Catt and Sam Hooper for their latest Northern Premier League fixture.

“Rylands picked up at the end of last season and they’re going really well, a big powerful side, a very good side and we’ll need to have all 11 of our lads at the races to get the win we want," the Matlock boss admitted.

"It’s our toughest home game of the season so far and I’ll be looking for a response from everyone for the club and also for the fans.”