Home sweet home for new Matlock Town chief

New boss Nathan Haslam has found a comfortable place in the Home dugout at Matlock Town after previously being in the Away one.

Haslam is no stranger to the Proctor Cars Stadium from his visits with Whitby Town.

On Saturday his home “debut” ended in a 2-0 win over Liversedge watched by 595 spectators, the second best crowd of the day in the Northern Premier League’s East Division.

“I love it,” said Haslam. “Matlock has always been a kind ground when I brought Whitby here. That performance for my first here as Matlock manager, it is really encouraging.

“A big thank-you to the fans. They turned out in numbers.”

An early strike from Jed Abbey set the Gladiators on their way before Aiden Walker’s scored for the third successive game to open up a 2-0 lead on 69 minutes.

“It was three points against a very good team who are doing well in the league,” added the manager. “We knew what problems they would give us but we counteracted that. We also asked for a fast start and we got that.

“At 1-0 we were worthy of more goals to be honest on chances created but the lads stuck in there. We saw them playing some nice, fluid football. We also saw them mucking out and sticking in the game.”

The victory made it back-to-back wins for Haslam and three on the spin for a Matlock team who are fifth in the table ahead of tonight’s long trip up to Blyth Spartans in the boss’s native North East.

“It’s a great arena, a great place to play football, and it will suit us,” he said.

“It’s a club I’m relatively close to. I know a lot of people there but it is just another game of football for us.

“We are three on the bounce and we’re looking forward to it.”