Matlock Town secured their first Northern Premier League Premier Division play-offs place in 15 years following a 2-0 victory over Warrington Town on the final day of the regular league campaign at The Proctor Cars Stadium.
An excellent debut goal for Benito Lowe and Alex Byrne's 13th goal of the season in the dying stages of the game secured all three points for the Gladiators in an electric atmosphere at Causeway Lane.
With Matlock knowing that only a win on the final day would guarantee them a play-offs place, there was understandably a lot of pressure on the players and plenty of tension in the air at the start of the game. If the Gladiators slipped up, they knew that a win for Bamber Bridge at home against Nantwich Town would see Brig leapfrog the Gladiators into the final play-offs berth in dramatic and heartbreaking circumstances.
It didn't help Matlock that they'd not won any of their previous seven games at home and had bizarrely only scored one goal in those seven games. However, the Gladiators dealt with the pressure superbly and finally converted their chances in the final third to set up a very intriguing play-off semi-final away at Scarborough Athletic this coming Tuesday night.
It was, unsurprisingly, a tight and nervy start to the game. The stakes were also high for Warrington Town coming into this game, as a victory for the Yellows would have guaranteed them third position in the league and a play-off semi-final tie at their home ground.
After just six minutes played, an 18 yard effort from the Yellows was scooped over the bar while a minute later, Ross Hannah saw his close range effort deflected for a corner. Not long afterwards, Matlock skipper Liam Hughes had a couple of sights on goal. A header on target in the 12th minute following a whipped in free kick from Alex Byrne was straight at the Yellows goalkeeper before he then had a 25 yard attempt two minutes afterwards which wasn't far away at all from giving the Gladiators the lead.
The rest of the first half was a quiet affair in terms of clear-cut chances until the final five minutes before the interval. With the majority of the first half often being a tight midfield battle between both sides, Matlock suddenly came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock in the 42nd minute. An excellent cross from Reece Kendall on the left flank found Alex Byrne at the back post. His headed effort from ten yards out looked certain to be going in before an excellent clearance just in front of the goal line was made by a Warrington defender.
The Yellows also had a big chance to take the lead right on the stroke of half-time when the returning Joe Young made a good save at his near post to deny a close-range effort from the Cheshire outfit.
It was a tight first half; however, Matlock were certainly the better team in the second 45 minutes and showed everyone just how many leaders are in that squad. Alex Byrne had a big chance to break the deadlock just four minutes after the restart when his 16 yard effort flashed just over the cross bar. It was in the 69th minute though that the volume was turned up to eleven at The Proctor Cars Stadium. Just 14 minutes into his Gladiators debut after coming on as a substitute for Alex Wiles, Benito Lowe made himself an instant Causeway Lane hero with a sensational strike from 22 yards out which beat the keeper and found the top corner of the net. The wonder goal sparked wild scenes of celebrations among the Gladiators players, staff and fans alike and the rest of the game was played in front of a carnival atmosphere. Liam Hughes came close to doubling Matlock's advantage in the 79th minute when his header on target inside the penalty area was well saved by the Yellows goalkeeper. Warrington reminded the Gladiators though that they were not out of it just yet when 60 seconds later, Joe Young pulled off a good save to palm away a rapid Yellows effort from 18 yards out. Jubilant scenes of celebrations arrived once again in the 89th minute as Matlock secured all three points thanks to Alex Byrne. On the breakaway, substitute Jesurun Uchegbulam darted down the right flank to cause Warrington's tiring defence big problems. With the game extremely stretched, Byrne was able to ghost into the penalty area completely unmarked. Uchegbulam showed great composure to put a lovely little cross into the penalty area and Byrne headed the ball into the net from around ten yards out to kill the game off completely and finally secure Matlock's play-offs place. Matlock Town team: Young, Yates, Kendall, Evans, Qualter, Lees, Byrne, Wiles (Lowe 55), Hughes (c), Chippendale (Sharman 90), Hannah (Uchegbulam 62). Unused subs: McKnight, Daly. Attendance: 781 Paul Phillips Quotes: "I thought we were brilliant from the first minute to the last against a very good Warrington team. The first 45 minutes was always going to be a bit cagey and a bit tight. But then in the second half, I thought we came out and dominated the game. We stuck at it and we scored two great goals. Credit to the lads and credit to the club. Credit to everyone that's stuck with us...there's still a long way to go. We still want to get out of this league. We've got an opportunity now with, hopefully, two more games to push on. We've given ourselves an incredible chance to get to where we want to be." "If you look at my team selection, there were a lot of experienced lads that started for us. They managed the game well and didn't get overawed. It was a good game of football between two good teams and you can see why both are in the play-offs." "It couldn't have gone much better, could it? Benito trained with us on Thursday night and did well. One or two players were a bit upset that they didn't make the squad for today. But I think what happened today justified the decisions made. We looked at footage of our games over the past six to seven weeks and we just weren't shooting enough. Today, Benito came on, drives forward because that's what he does and then puts one in the top bins. Fair play to him." "We knew that as the game wore on, the more stretched it would get. Jes coming on with 30 minutes to go gave Warrington a massive headache. I thought he showed maturity and willingness. The ball that he put in for Al Byrne was delivered on a plate - if Al had missed that, I would have strangled him! I thought both goals today were good goals. We could have had one or two in the first half. But we'll settle for 2-0 today!" "How many plaudits do we keep giving to the defence? Josh Amis was a real handful for Warrington up front. I think we've got the best defensive record in this league. Evans, Qualter, Adam Yates - they're all outstanding. We're going to have to ask them to do it twice more hopefully! Joe Young came back today and was outstanding with everything that he was asked to do as he has been all year." "I thought the supporters were great...they've followed the team home and away which has been outstanding. A lot of fans have stuck with us when we've been on a bumpy road. I hope we can give them something to cheer in the next week as we try and get out of this league." "You don't get anything easily in this league...the table doesn't lie...I think it would have been unjust had we missed out on the play-offs. Scarborough are a very good team on a good run. Nobody will fancy playing us in the play-offs and that's credit to our lads and the people behind the scenes at the club."