Darlington v Matlock Town Preview
By Ray Simpson
Darlington are once again hoping that a home fixture will survive the weather, when they host Matloc...
Darlington are once again hoping that a home fixture will survive the weather, when they host Matlock Town at Heritage Park on Saturday. Last Saturday’s fixture at home to Ilkeston was the latest to be postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at Bishop Auckland.
The Quakers dropped out of the top five places in the league, due to Ashton United winning last Saturday. However, the side have at least two games in hand on all the teams above them.
Visitors Matlock currently sit in 15th place in the league table, eleven points off both the play-off places and the relegation zone. They have won four of their twelve away games so far this season. Like Darlington, Matlock’s game last Saturday was postponed, with their most recent game being a 1-0 victory away to Ilkeston FC on the 28th December.
They have recently signed former Darlington midfielder Craig Nelthorpe, who was with Quakers towards the end of the 2007-08 season, and was in the team that lost to Rochdale in the play off semi final.
Recent results:
December 28th Ilkeston (away) won 1-0 Dawes.
1 George Willis 2 Jason Paling 3 Craig Nelthorpe 4 Laurie Wilson 5 Adam Yates 6 Nicky Travis (15 Dan Cockerline 72) 7 Ted Cribley 8 Liam Needham 9 Joel Purkiss 10 Niall McManus 11 Charlie Dawes Subs not used: 12 Danny Holland 14 Alex Peterson 16 Scott Maxfield 17 Jack Siddall
December 26th Buxton (home) lost 1-2 Nelthorpe.
December 19th Colwyn Bay (away) won 4-1 Purkiss, Wilson, Cribley, McManus.
December 12th Nantwich FA Trophy (away) lost 0-2.
December 5th Barwell (home) lost 1-3 Needham.
December 1st Daventry League Cup lost 1-3 Purkiss.
The sides are yet to meet this season, with the reverse fixture scheduled for the 12th of March. In all of the last five seasons Matlock have finished the league campaign mid-table in the Evo-Stik Premier Division.
2010-11 played 42, points 66, position 11th
2011-12 played 42, points 50, position 14th
2012-13 played 42, points 45, position 17th
2013-14 played 46, points 67, position 12th
2014-15 played 46, points 56, position 14th
Kick-off at Heritage Park on Saturday is 3pm. Updates on the game will be made from the Darlington Twitter, Facebook and phone app, and there will be a match report and follow up on our official website.
A pitch inspection is scheduled for 9am on Saturday.
