Matlock Town host Basford United on Tuesday night at the Proctor Cars Stadium in the NPL Premier Division. The Gladiators will be looking to make it three victories in a row to follow their 2-0 victory over Quorn in the FA Cup and their 2-0 victory over Stafford Rangers in the league.
Basford United will be tough opposition for the Gladiators as the Nottingham outfit looked likely to secure a place in the NPL Premier Division play-offs before the 2019/20 campaign had to be cancelled.
The Opposition
Basford is a district in Nottingham and its football club play their home games at Greenwich Avenue. The ground can hold up to 1,600 spectators in normal circumstances. The club started playing their home games here in 1991.
The club are known as The Lions and the team’s manager is Nottingham Forest cult hero Steve Chettle. Chettle made 415 league appearances for Nottingham Forest in his playing career and also made twelve appearances for the England U21 team.
The Lions occupied fourth position in the NPL Premier Division league table when the Covid-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2019/20 season.
Basford lost on the opening day of the 2020/21 league season. Warrington Town defeated them at Greenwich Avenue 2-0. The Tigers did get their first league win on the board in their most recent game though with a 2-1 victory at The Giant Axe over Lancaster City thanks to goals from Stefan Galinski and Alex Howes. After one win and one defeat so far in this very early stage of the season, Basford find themselves in thirteenth position in the league table. The Lions have already exited the FA Cup as they lost 2-1 away at Chasetown in the FA Cup First Qualifying Round.
One to Watch
Niall Towle is a striker to keep an eye on for Tuesday night’s match. Towle was signed from Long Eaton United over the summer where he bagged a hatful of goals for the Derbyshire outfit. Towle has not scored a competitive goal yet for the Lions but impressed over pre-season. Towle is perceived as a typical old-fashioned striker with great aerial prowess and a strong hold-up game.
Team News
Jon Stewart and Callum Chippendale will still be unavailable due to injury. Nathan Valentine and Craig King could return to the squad after coming to the end of their lay-offs while forward Andre Johnson will likely be back in the squad after being rested for the game against Stafford Rangers last weekend.
Loan signing Jake Hull could also be in line to make his debut for the Gladiators.
Previous Meeting
The Gladiators and the Lions certainly got to know each other very well last season as they met four times across three different competitions. The teams last played each other on January 13th at Greenwich Avenue in the Integro League Cup Second Round. This match is tinged with sadness as this was the last game of football that Jordan Sinnott ever played. Sinnott had an excellent game and scored a hat-trick while Chib Chilaka and Tomas Poole also got on the scoresheet as Matlock hammered Basford 5-0 to move into the Third Round.
In the last league encounter between these two sides, Matlock were defeated 1-0 by the Lions at the Proctor Cars Stadium on January 4th. Matt Thornhill scored the only goal of the game in front of a crowd of 424.
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