Odd’s on for the Drop

Now that pre-season is over, time to put the hard work in. Now myself and the board have goals to work towards the press and pundits all sat down and made Matlock favorites for the drop. Everyone felt the lack of training in a week would be our downfall, and it showed in the matches leading up to the season opener, only winning two games.

The season-opening game was an away trip to Jeff Stelling’s Hartlepool, one of the top teams in the league, bookies have made them evens to go up but to the league, it means this is going to be a good test. We shocked everyone by winning 2-0 which has put everyone on notice. In the game, Harvey Davies on his 1st start for the club only went on and saved a penalty. The next game was at home against Torquay, which the Gladiators showed their might by winning 4-0. We finished August with 2 more games, a loss vs South Shields by 2 goals to nil but back on track with a win vs Dorking.

September started off with a draw against York, but then with 3 wins on the bounce vs Stevenage, and Eastleigh, and an epic game vs Yeovil finishing 4-3. We finish the 2nd month of the league unbeaten with a draw vs Harrogate, which still doesn’t put us top of the league but close to it.

After the game, there was a meeting to announce the plans for Matlock’s new ground. Fans were able to see the image of the future of the club, but yet to be named, so if you are reading this please suggest some names for the new ground.

With everything going to plan so far, everyone is shocked at the start we have made, we wanted to carry on, and it started with a home game to Woking, which we was able to win 2-0. Then an away trip to Grimsby was next up, and oh my god, we were 2-0 down but came back to win 6-2, our front line is looking like they playing for Barca. The FA Cup draw was next up, and that brought us a home tie vs Sticker, but before that was a trip to the seaside to play Southend. The ride back up north was a hard one as we lost 3-2, but we need to focus on staying in the league and not let a defeat get to us

Time for the Cup game, and I chose to change the whole 11, resting the main players and giving some of the young players to see what they had. Against Sticker we ran out 7-1 victors and on to the next round. The draw was made and we have an away trip to Sheff Wed to look forward to.

Back to league action now, we had 2 league games at home, Newport was up, and the 1st all-rested got back to winning ways with a 3-0 win to see us go top of the league. We carried that form on against Macclesfield by winning 2-0.

It is that close at the top, one defeat can drop you down to 6th but a win can put you ahead, but sadly vs AFC Fylde, we started strong only to lose 3-2 with Fylde getting a last min winner.

More plans for the new ground have come out, this time it’s the home dressing room, which I had input with, wanted to make the players feel like they are pros.

With All that said, the 1st 3 months of the season have gone to plan. 16 games played, 11 wins 2 draws, and 3 defeats, and a GD of 21 is not bad at all. Sammie Tuckey and Liam Brady are both averaging 7.4 this season and ranking in the top 3 players so far. Brady has gone from strength to strength by being the league’s top scorer with 11 goals, Tuckey getting 7 assists as well. Goalkeeper Harvey Davies is joint top keeping 7 clean sheets.

Thanks for joining me through the 1st part of the season, the big question is when will this fairytale end.

#GladsAllOver

Season review 25/26

What a Season it has been. With the media predicting my Matlock side would finish midtable, we certainly rewrote the books on that as we became CHAMPIONS of the National League North.

As you can see the board wanted a top-half finish, well you can tick that off my list as we ended up 1st after 46 games, winning 33 drawing 5, and ended up with 8 losses. 104 points and a goal difference of 55. We only got top stop with 3 games to go as we took it from South Shields.

The average home attendance was 1288 all saw Liam Brady score 26 goals and be shortlisted for player of the season.

What a FA Cup run we had, started slow with a draw with the Met Police, but got past them in the end with a replay. After beating Workington, we made it to the 1st round where Woking was waiting. Then an away trip to Mansfield town saw the Glads took them apart 5-1 to set up a match against Colchester Utd, even tho we were underdogs, we managed to get a 3-1 victory. After that we can hold our heads high as we lost to Championship side Bristol City.

Chelsea was the Winner of the FA Cup, and my side was able to be the overachievers this year getting to the 3rd round, but this season’s top scorer went to Matlock Town Tyreace Palmer netting 7 times.

The biggest win this season was the replay in the FA Cup vs the Met Police 7-3. The match that showed our grit to win the league was against Chester, after taking an early lead, we were pegged back only to score 3 mins after 90 was up.

The goal of the season goes to Tuckey, it was the second goal vs Hereford by catching everyone off guard with a low drive from 25 yards.

I know people want me to talk about individuals, but I can’t single just one player out. The team as a whole stuck to their guns and came together when we lost and grew as a team.

The above picture shows our best 11, 4-2-3-1. As you can see our forward line all average above a 7 which shows how good this team is going forward.

Over the season, it’s pretty hard to get awards, but I was able to pick up Manager of the Month 3 times, November, February and April, and also made the shortlist for Manager of the Season.

Fan’s players of the Season went to Liam Brady, the 25-year-old attacker was key to the glory of the season. Sammie Tuckey won Young Player of the Season for his in the middle of the park.

Jeremy Sivi, a free transfer from Boro, got Signing of the Season, the winger was important down the right side starting attack’s.

We also set a record high for Matlock finish 1st in the league, something the club hasn’t down before. With that record now set, anything going forward is going to break what we have achieved this season.

On a personal note, i was able to capture the Manager of the Season award with a win ratio of 71%. I can take credit for picking the team, we only train twice a week as we are not professional yet but I am hoping we can change that in the future. The team should share this award with me.

DOF Martin Carruthers has spoken out on the club website praising my work.

We enjoyed an open top bus ride through Matlock, visiting the community and school with the league title. Then the chairman put on a party for all the staff and players plus their family.

On the subject of the player, there are a few deals we had to sort out and I want to keep the spine of the team in place, and I am pleased to announce that Liam Brady has signed for another 2 years. The former Blyth and Dial Square player, who arrived with me when I took this job has been key.

My record of winning a trophy every season is still intact, 2 with Dial Square and now 2 with Matlock Town FC.

The players are now on a break, which gives me time to work on next season. It’s going to be hard but we are up for the challenge ahead.

#GladsAllOver.