Ashbourne Town..................2

Matlock Town Reserves.......4

THE relaunched Matlock Town Reserves side got their first taste of action when they visited Derby City League runners-up Ashbourne Town.

An entertaining fixture gave reserve team managers Glenn Kirkwood and Craig Hopkins an excellent chance to see if all their hard work in training was about to pay off.

But it didn’t start well.

Ashbourne, who will play in the Matlock and District League next season, scored within 15 minutes of the first half.

But Matlock settled and got themselves back into the game with Dan Bridge’s equaliser. Bridge then briefly put Matlock in the lead before Ashbourne levelled to take the teams into the break all-square.

The second half was a different game, Matlock having the better of possession and looking the sharper.

They regained the lead and then increased it through Rob Fretwell and then Stephen Atkinson before the end to secure a comfortable margin of victory at the end of a testing first outing.