After a defeat vs Fylde in October, I needed to pick the team up and get them back to winning ways, but it doesn’t help when Stockport is hunting for a new manager, and directing their eyes toward our director of football Martin Carruthers. So 1st up in November is a trip to Ebbsfleet, but the team came away with a 2-0 win.
Being the autumn, that means FA Cup time, and what a game to kick off the round proper with a game vs Sheff Wed, what a game it was 2-0 down but this Matlock side has something about them to fight and they managed to come back to equal the score until the last min where defender Paddy Watts leaped above everyone to score the winner, and set up a match vs Championship side Gillingham at the end of the month.
Back to league action, in which we went unbeaten, wins against Altrincham, Aldershot (sorry @Curty), and Barnet, plus a draw vs Telford. Again we missed out on TV time in the Cup but still were able to get a 2-1 vs Gillingham which was a 1st to a former Premier League striker, Emil Brynjar Fjortoft grabbing both goals.
December started with the BT sports cameras on us for our home game vs Rochdale, which we carried on our run going by getting a one-nil win. Following that, we got wins leading up to the Christmas week vs Gateshead, Torquay, and Nantwich in the FA Trophy. Draws vs Hartlepool and South Shields either side on the big day didn’t go down well with the fans, as they were both home games. We ended 2026 with an away trip to Dorking, where we smashed them 3-1. The big news at the end of the year was the Draw for the FA Cup and OMG we only got the holder Chelsea.
To start 2027 on a downer, we sadly said goodbye to Martin Carruthers who took the post at Stockport. That left us with a spot in our backroom staff, and former Matlock player Adam Yates stepped up and became our Director of Football.
With 2 games before our trip to London to face Chelsea, we had games vs York and Stevenage. both games saw goals, scoring 10 and conceding 3, so form is good but it did come crashing down as we lost 2-0 to the holders of the FA Cup, We can hold our heads up high because everyone thought we was going to get a battering, but only to lose by 2 is great work.
Back to winning ways in the trophy with a win at home against Grimsby and that carried on throughout January with wins vs Eastleigh, Yeovil, and Harrogate to end the month.
Grimsby came back to Causeway Lane but suffered the same fate as their trophy game a few weeks ago by losing 2-0 in the 1st league game of February. After that, we all got on the bus and traveled to Woking, but we only came away with a 1-1 draw.
Currently, we are 3 points behind the top spot which is held by Southend with 25 wins and 6 draws after 34 games.
Our top scorer has just signed a deal with Adidas, Liam Brady with 18 goals, taking his total to 54 goals in 103 games for the Gladiators.
Sammie Tuckey is the highest-rated player in the league, which included player of the month for December and is on course to become the league’s player of the season. On a personal note, I have managed to pick up back-to-back Managers of the Month awards for Dec and Jan.
Be sure to join me and this Matlock side as we push towards the end of the season.
#GladsAllOver
Exciting times 👌
LikeLiked by 1 person