Matlock Town release Osebi Abadaki after breach of trust

Osebi Abadaki will not be with Matlock Town for a second season after letting down manager Paul Phillips last weekend.

Phillips received a message from Abadaki saying he was unavailable for Friday night’s home clash with Boston United through illness, only for him to appear on Buxton’s substitutes bench eighteen hours later in their win at Nuneaton Borough.

An upset Phillips confirmed that Abadaki would not be part of the Gladiators squad in 2021/22.

“We’d looked after the lad last season and we were considering what we were going to do this season but his actions have made up our minds for us,” he said.

"Basically he wasn’t man enough to tell me he was having a game elsewhere. Craig King and Nathan Whitehead (now at Frickley) did things the right way.

"If things are done properly, that’s no problem for me but the manner in which Osebi acted is totally against what we believe in. He’s not the sort of character we want in our squad.”