Matlock Town aim to bolster play-off hopes

Their last outing was a fine 2-0 victory at Stafford Rangers a week last Saturday.

Ideally Matlock would have wanted to build on that win but with injuries to three players in goalkeeper Saul Deeney, captain Ryan Qualter and striker Karl Demidh, maybe the postponements were not such a bad thing, a view shared by manager Martin Carruthers.

“Yes, it was beneficial for us with the weather governing whether the games would go ahead, not playing certainly helped us,” he said.

"Karl definitely wouldn’t have made the game against South Shields on the Tuesday and Saul and Qualts were both touch and go.

"In a perfect world we’d have wanted to play, but the weather conditions meant we couldn’t play and that was probably a blessing in disguise.”

More good news for Matlock fans is that midfielder Brad Abbott is progressing well from his broken leg.

“I’ve spoken with Brad and he’s hopeful that he’ll be able to do some light jogging in the next ten days or so, so hopefully things are looking better for us on the injury front,” Carruthers added.

The Gladiators travel to the Giant Axe in search of a third league double of the season, having beaten the Dolly Blues by a single Alex Wiles strike at the Proctor Cars Stadium in September,

Midweek results saw Matlock drop from sixth to eighth in a very congested race for a play off spot

Matlock are now four points adrift of fifth placed Warrington Town but have two games in hand so the importance of picking up another favourable result at the weekend cannot be under-estimated.

“Three points on Saturday would be huge, especially given the fact it’s FC United at home in our next game,” said Carruthers.

“The game’s will come thick and fast now, the aim is to get on an unbeaten run to try and stay in contention for the end of the season.

"A good result at Lancaster is imperative as we try to cement a place in the play-offs.

"In this league it’s so tight, a really good league where anyone can beat anyone else.”