A horror show from Matlock saw them deservedly and soundly beaten at a windswept Horsfall Stadium on Saturday.

The feeble performance left manager Mark Atkins seething as it was probably the worst in his tenure.

He said: "We were poor at the back, poor up front, in fact we were poor all over the park. The players need to take a good long look at themselves for we were second best in every department."

The Matlock fans who braved the elements will have no arguments with that assessment. It was all too easy for Avenue to get a stranglehold on the game and terrible defending could have resulted in a more humiliating scoreline.

Matlock won the toss to kick with the gale force wind in the first-half. It was just about the one thing they got right all afternoon.
The Gladiators predictably had much of the opening pressure but lacked the cutting edge to hurt Avenue. Home central defenders Simon Ainge and James Knowles were magnificent as they protected goalkeeper Steve Dickenson so well that he had little to do by way of serious saves.

He held successive drives from Ross Hannah before Lukic headed a right-wing corner too high. A cross from Scott Brough only needed a touch, but Matlock hadn't made the most of the conditions which meant that Bradford grew in confidence and stature as the half wore on.

By the interval the hosts were in cruise control having established a two-goal gift-wrapped lead.

There was a touch of misfortune about the opener on 29 minutes which came about when Lukic was forced to concede a corner having blocked a goalbound shot from Chris Hall. Gareth Davies deflected the flag-kick into his own net and Matlock were in trouble.

Only a fine save from Adam Sollitt, who splendidly tipped a Chris Stabb piledriver over the bar on 36 minutes kept the margin down to one goal.

Then the dangerous Hall all too easily got the better of three half hearted Matlock challenges on the right. His cross flashed along the Town six-yard box.

Danny Wood limped off to be replaced by Dene Cropper as Matlock went 4-3-3 which meant Avenue had space to dominate the midfield.

To be losing by one goal at the interval, given the conditions, was serious, but to be two goals down was calamitous. The defending for that second on the stroke of half-time was nothing more than suicidal as Simon Baldry floated in a cross from the right and Hall had nobody within five yards of him as he headed clinically past Sollitt.

A hammering looked odds on when within a minute of the restart as Hall scored again, ghosting past Haran to push Stabb's cross from the right beyond the exposed Sollitt.

Matlock rallied to reduce the deficit in the 56th minute as Cropper and Benger combined well to feed skipper Steve Warne who drove past Dickenson from ten yards.

But Matlock always looked likely to concede again, with Baldry striking the bar and Hall's header saved brilliantly by Sollitt.

But a 68th minute corner was only partially cleared and man of the match Rob O'Brien shot low and hard from the edge of the box past Sollitt whose view might have been impeded by bodies in front of him.

At least Ross Hannah hadn't given up the ghost and his persistence brought him reward with three minutes remaining as he turned and twisted in the Avenue penalty box before scoring with a low drive into the bottom corner.

But Avenue had the last word as O'Brien crashed in a top quality half-volley from 20 yards past the diving Sollitt and a miserable afternoon for Matlock had come to an end.

They could have no complaints with the outcome and there will need to be a lot of hard work on the training field in the week before this weekend's trip to King's Lynn.

Matlock now find themselves in the bottom three and a relegation spot in an unbelievably tight division. A couple of wins could see them shoot up the table but with defending like at Bradford, clearly this will not happen.

How the Gladiators lined-up
1 Adam Sollitt, 2 Scott Brough, 3 Adam Yates, 4 Liam King, 5 Mark Haran, 6 James Lukic, 7 Steve Warne, 8 Gareth Davies (Ben Algar 58), 9 Nathan Benger (Matt Thorpe 74), 10 Ross Hannah, 11 Danny Wood (Dene Cropper 40). Subs not used: Nick Buxton (GK)
Att: 350 Ref: A Greenwood (York)
Matlock Star Man - Adam Sollitt