Paul Phillips hails in-form - but injury-ravaged - Matlock Town side

A 4-2 win at Bamber Bridge on Saturday was followed by a 1-0 success at Radcliffe on Tuesday night, leaving the Gladiators second in the league table going into the weekend’s matches.

And Phillips says he’s been delighted by his side’s form.

Speaking after Radcliffe game, he said: “We were terrific, despite losing Callum Chippendale injured early on and then Jamie Cooke having to come off at half-time, which saw the game plan go out the window.

"I thought the back three and the keeper were immense and dealt with everything.

"We’ve had a lot of things go against us injury-wise in the last two or three weeks and can’t get a team that’s going to play week in, week out, so our resilience has been fantastic.

"But we can’t keep asking the lads to do that and have to take the burden off them. We are going with a thin squad and I’ve been on the phone all week trying to get the right players in. It’s a pain in the backside losing more players tonight but let’s not take anything away from the lads – they’ve shown the character we all know they have.”

Matlock now prepare to host mid-table FC United of Manchester at the Proctor Cars Stadium on Saturday, who arrive off the back of a 6-0 win over Scarborough Athletic on Tuesday, before Mickleover make the short trip from Derby on Tuesday night.

And Phillips wants to see more of the same from his patched up side in front of what is expected to be a four-figure crowd, including further appearances from defender Adam Yates who came out of retirement to help his old club out in the last two games.

He said: “It’ll be a good footballing game like the Bamber Bridge match. We’ll prepare best we can and get the walking wounded in to see how they are in training and I’ve sorted a deal out for a player today so hopefully we can get him in for Saturday.

"Adam’s been brilliant and I’ll sound selfish saying this but it shows he retired too early. He didn’t put a foot wrong, winning every header and his positioning being excellent – it didn’t look like he’d been away.”