Matlock Town moved back up to second position in the NPL Premier Division on Tuesday evening as they defeated Marske United 4-1 at The Proctor Cars Stadium.
Despite falling behind in the first half, goals from Alex Byrne, Kallan Murphy, John Johnston and Jordan Barnett secured an impressive three points for the Gladiators.
The hosts made an excellent start to the match and had two huge opportunities inside the tenth minute to take the lead. Seasiders goalkeeper Ryan Catterick made two outstanding saves in a row to deny close-range efforts from both Bartosz Cybulski and Jamie Sharman. Just two minutes later, the Gladiators hit the woodwork when John Johnston's header following an excellent right-wing cross from Alex Byrne smacked off the cross bar
However, it was the visitors that took an unexpected lead on the break. Ioan Evans lunged in on a Marske forward to concede a penalty in the 14th minute and Seasiders defender Dale Hopson converted the spot-kick to give the visitors the lead. This is the third game in a row where Matlock have conceded a penalty and is an issue that needs addressing urgently.
The Gladiators responded superbly though to this setback and continued to play with a high tempo. The Derbyshire Dales outfit won their own penalty just four minutes after Marske were awarded a spot-kick when Ryan Catterick was deemed to have fouled a Matlock player straight after a corner kick was taken. The Marske goalkeeper guessed the right way but Alex Byrne's penalty was extremely well taken and the ball was fired into the bottom corner to level the match at 1-1.
Matlock continued to press well as the first half progressed but the visitors almost retook the lead after 32 minutes played. A 25 yard effort from Junior Mondal took a deflection off a Matlock player and the ball whistled just inches wide of the post to Jim Pollard's relief.
Matlock deservedly took the lead though on the stroke of half-time. Yet another exquisite right-wing delivery from Byrne found the head of Irish forward Kallan Murphy and he found the back of the net from close-range for his fourth goal of the season.
The game was killed off in Matlock's favour in the first 20 minutes of the second half. The Gladiators really stamped their authority in this phase of the match and ended up blowing Marske away to secure all three points.
John Johnston almost made it 3-1 to the hosts just two minutes after the re-start. Johnston found himself with just the Marske goalkeeper to beat but Ryan Catterick did really well to thwart Johnston and claim the ball from his feet. Three minutes later, Byrne's rapid effort from the edge of the penalty area was saved and well held by Catterick. Matlock's pressure soon told though and the Gladiators made it 3-1 in the 52nd minute when some excellent improvisation work from Johnston saw him break free of Marske's last man to allow himself a run of 30 yards with only the keeper to beat. The midfielder made no mistake this time around and he calmly slotted the ball past Catterick into the bottom corner to extend Matlock's lead.
Matlock then took complete control of the game in the 62nd minute when Jordan Barnett bagged his fourth goal of the season via a superb assist from Murphy. Murphy did superbly to fly past two players on the right wing and his blistering pace took him right up to the by-line. His intelligent cross found a completely unmarked Barnett and he headed home easily from eight yards out to take the game well out of Marske's reach.
With the game sewn up and Marske playing damage limitation, the final 25 minutes saw very little action and petered out as an actual contest between the two sides. Gladiators boss Craig Elliott can be extremely pleased with his team's overall performance and huge credit must be given to skipper Ryan Qualter and defensive midfielder Mark Lees who both played the full 90 minutes when not 100% fit.
Matlock Town team: Pollard, Sharman, Barnett, Lees, Evans, Qualter (c), Johnston (Hinds 81), Njaria, Cybulski (Tuton 77), Murphy, Byrne (Mantack 86). Unused subs: Slew, Abbott.
Attendance: 565
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