Matlock Town host Derby County U23’s on Tuesday evening as they look to maintain their excellent start to their pre-season schedule.
The Gladiators are looking to make it three wins in a row following the 9-0 hammering of Wirksworth Ivanhoe and an impressive 3-2 victory over National League North outfit Boston United.
The Opposition
Derby County U23’s are effectively the team’s reserves side and are managed by former Derby County, Nottingham Forest and Burton Albion player Darren Wassall. Wassall was Derby County’s senior team’s interim head coach between February and May of 2016. He won nine of his 18 games in the caretaker role.
The team finished in an impressive sixth place in last season’s Premier League 2 Division 1 table, which is the top tier of reserve team football in England.
In the last few seasons, Derby’s academy side has entered the annual Derbyshire Senior Cup competition. The Rams won the competition in the 2010-11 campaign.
One to Watch
A key player to look out for on Tuesday evening will be 18 year-old attacking midfielder/winger Seb Thompson. Thompson has very recently moved up to Derby’s U23 side and could make his debut for Derby County U23’s after spending the last two years with their U18 team.
Thompson was an unused substitute for Derby’s senior team in the Covid-hit FA Cup tie away at Chorley last season. He made 12 appearances for Derby County U18’s last season.
Team News
There does not appear to be any injury concerns ahead of this pre-season friendly for Matlock Town. Over the last two friendlies, three trialists have been used by Paul Phillips but no new signings have been confirmed, so it wouldn’t be too surprising to see ‘Trialist’ appear on the team sheet again for Tuesday night’s game.
Previous Meeting
The last time these two sides met was for a pre-season friendly ahead of the 2018/19 campaign. Just shy of three years ago to the day, the Gladiators were defeated 4-1 at the Proctor Cars Stadium by Derby County U23’s.
The Gladiators took the lead early on thanks to a goal from Kieran Watson but goals from AJ Eyoma, Louie Sibley, Jack Stretton and Max Hunt gave the Rams a convincing win in front of a good crowd of 690.
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