Phillips calls for Matlock Town grit against Stafford Rangers

The games are coming thick and fast for Matlock Town. Picture by Dan Westwell

Town have two successive home matches with Stafford Rangers in town on Saturday afternoon and Basford United the visitors to the Proctor Cars Stadium on Tuesday night.

“I was very down last Saturday, I fully expected us to bring home three points,” admitted Phillips.

“It just goes to show you can’t take things for granted. We’ll have a go at Stafford who’ll be a good, organised team and will try and play football in the right way under Jody Banim.

“I like to make our ground a fortress, when I’ve done well at Ashton we’ve won the majority of games at home and managed to pick up a fair percentage of points away. You tend to get strange results early on in the season and I think it’ll be especially the case this season.

“The Stafford and Basford games will be two different challenges but if we show the same appetite as tonight (Quorn game) that’s seen us score two goals, fight hard and keep the ball out of our net then we’ll be alright.”

Spectators at both games can pay at the turnstiles as normal with Matlock not allocating tickets in advance for either fixture.

Although fans cannot enter stadiums at Football League level, as things stand, they can still attend non league matches.

News emerged on Monday morning that a Bamber Bridge player had tested positive for Covid-19 after last weekend’s game against Matlock. Bamber Bridge now cannot play football for a period of fourteen days.

But after taking advice from the NPL, Matlock can continue to play.their games after there was an initial query of whether they could play their FA Cup tie on Tuesday.

A Matlock spokesman said: “We were saddened to hear the news about the Bamber Bridge player who we understand is feeling well and we wish him and Bamber Bridge all the best for a quick return to playing.

"We’re relieved that we’re able to play our games and are looking forward to welcoming all of our supporters to the Stafford and Basford games when again, all measures that need to be taken will be in place to allow fans to enjoy the game in a safe manner.”