Matlock Town face another injury crisis

Town could be without Craig Westcarr, Brad Beatson, Jordan Chapell, Greg Tempest, Dwayne Wiley and Jamie Jackson.

And Adam Yates is set to miss out after he was sent off in the 4-2 Derbyshire Senior Cup defeat against Alfreton Town.

“We’ll have to see what we’ve got at training on Thursday,” said boss Dave Frecklington.

“If Westy (Westcarr) can train on Thursday which we hope he can, he’ll probably be okay, to be honest it was more of a precaution not playing him for he would probably have missed the Farsley game had we put him in.

“Greg could possibly make it as well, his muscle around his bottom went tight but hopefully he’ll recover. Jacko has a tight hamstring so we’ll have to see how that goes.

“Brad Beatson might make it but playing a side the calibre of Farsley, we need him to be 100 per cent so again we’ll need to assess him. Dwayne’s a major doubt though with a knee injury.”

The signing of Grantham Town centre half Chris Salt could therefore be a timely one and he could be set for an immediate Matlock debut on Saturday.

Salt (24) began his career with Sheffield United’s academy and has played NPL football at Worksop Town and Buxton plus Conference North football at Gainsborough Trinity under Frecklington’s management.

After a short spell at Clipstone, he moved to Stamford and was part of the team which made it through to the FA Cup 1st Round proper and a tie at Hartlepool United.

After his move to Grantham this season, he played ten times for the Gingerbreads before signing for Matlock before kick off on Tuesday.

“I’ve worked with Chris before at Gainsborough when he was part of our great escape from relegation,” added Frecklington.

“He’s only 24 so he’s got a lot of good years ahead of him, he’s a strong centre half, our type of player and with Dwayne’s injury tonight he’ll have every chance of starting on Saturday.

It completed a mixed week for Matlock, who finally ended a 530 minute goal drought when Luke Hinsley headed them into a 34th minute lead at Hyde when Matlock won 2-1.

And Frecklington admitted everyone was absolutely delighted to have ended their scoring drought at Hyde but he was more pleased with Matlock’s response after Hyde had drawn level.

“It’s been a while since we scored but more pleasing was the way we responded to their equaliser,” he said.

“We could have gone back in our shell but we were bang on it, and I was pleased with every aspect of our performance with players adapting to a different shape. It was a totally deserved win, the second goal was worthy of winning any game.”

The big question now is whether Matlock can spring a surprise against an in form Farsley who since a last minute defeat at South Shields on 19 January, have won four league and cup matches in succession, twice scoring five goals away from home as well as notching three at Scarborough.

Matlock may take encouragement from a narrow 3-2 loss at Throstle Nest in September during the early days of Frecklington’s reign.

“Whatever team we put out will be competitive, will work hard and be committed but we need to brighten up in certain areas of the pitch,” said Frecklington.

“We’ve had an excellent response to a dry January, Jonny Margetts was excellent against Alfreton and scored two very good goals. We know we have to defend well with Farsley going for the league title and being a very good team. We also want to pick up as many points as we can between now and the end of the season and hang on the coat-tails of the top five as you never know what can happen in football.”