Gladiators chief joins praise for Matlock Town's FA Cup heroes

Matlock Town chairman Tom Wright has added his voice to the praise surrounding his side's midweek 3-1 FA Cup replay win at Workington, which set up a fourth qualifying round clash at National League Altrincham.
By The Newsroom
Published 7th Oct 2016, 10:57 BST
Updated 25th Oct 2016, 17:02 BST
Matlock Town chairman Tom Wright.Matlock Town chairman Tom Wright.
Matlock Town chairman Tom Wright.

The Gladiators last reached the first round proper in 1989, when they lost to Scunthorpe United and Wright urged fans to get behind the side for the trip to Altrincham, who have a long history of FA Cup giantkilling themselves, for the tie a week on Saturday, October 15.

Wright said: “What a great battling performance from everyone involved. They all deserve all the credit that’s going, to sit four and a half hours on a coach after a day at work and produce a performance and result like that speaks volumes for their commitment to this football club and we’re all very proud of them.”

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The Evo-Stik NPL Premier Division club’s officials are organising coach transport to help fans make the trip and Wright added: “I’d urge our fans to get to Altrincham in their numbers and get behind the team. It would be fantastic if we could make the first round proper and pull out a really plum tie but we have to deal with Altrincham first, so come on, the players need and deserve your support, which was fantastic last weekend at the Workington home game.”

FA Cup win praise

After drawing 1-1 with their EVO-STIK NPL top flight rivals at the DCJ Group Insurance Arena last Saturday in the first attempt to settle the tie, joint managers Craig Hopkins and Glenn Kirkwood were also delighted with the midweek result and the performances of their players.

Hopkins, whose side retrace their steps to Borough Park in the league on Saturday for a third successive game, said: “It was a brilliant win. We were okay in the first half but played really well in the second half. We scored our goals at good times but also defended extremely well, the back five including Barnesy were outstanding. We passed it better in the second half and got what we deserved against a very good side.

“All of the players and ourselves would like to thank the fans who made that long journey on a Tuesday night to support us, brilliant, it’s really really appreciated.”

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Matlock Town are one of six Evo-Stik NPL clubs bidding to reach the first round proper with Stamford hosting Wrexham and Lincoln United and Nantwich Town hosting Spennymoor Town and Stourbridge respectively.

Related topics:GladiatorsMatlock TownAltrinchamNational League