Fifth place meets second place as Matlock Town square off against Whitby Town in the Northern Premier League on Saturday at the Towbar Express Stadium.
This match should prove to be a stern test of Matlock’s credentials at this early stage of the season due to Whitby’s impressive start to the league campaign and with it being Matlock’s first away fixture since August 31st following five home matches in a row.
The Opposition
The Seasiders currently sit in second position in the Northern Premier League with only South Shields above them on goal difference. Whitby have secured six victories from their first eight league games and have lost only one game so far in this campaign. The Seasiders have also scored the most goals in the Northern Premier League this season with sixteen.
Whitby Town come into this game in superb form winning their last eight games in a row in all competitions. In their last game, they defeated Ashton United 1-0 at Hurst Cross and in their last game at home they beat Hyde United 2-0. Whitby’s manager is Chris Hardy and their assistant manager is former York City, Hartlepool United and Bradford City player Lee Bullock.
Whitby Town’s biggest success came in 1997 when they defeated North Ferriby United 3-0 at the old Wembley Stadium to lift the FA Vase. Their home and away strips are intentionally designed to be very similar to the appearance of Serie A club Sampdoria’s strips.
One To Watch
Bradley Fewster is certainly one to watch out for in this game. Fewster plays as a striker and has made a magnificent start to this season scoring nine goals already in the 2019/20 campaign. Matlock’s defence will no doubt have been told just how dangerous a prospect he is in the final third for the Seasiders.
Fewster is 23 and began his career at his hometown club Middlesbrough in the Championship. Fewster only made two senior appearances for Middlesbrough. Both of these opportunities came in the League Cup and Fewster found himself on the scoresheet on one occasion.
He also has international experience for England. Fewster has played for England at U16, U17, U18 and U19 levels. He once scored a hat-trick for England U18’s against Belgium U18’s and scored 5 goals in 7 appearances for England U19’s.
Fewster had loan spells at Preston North End, York City and Hartlepool United in the Football League while still contracted to Middlesbrough. In that time at York City, Fewster won the League Two Player of the Month award for February 2016.
His first permanent switch was to Spennymoor Town in the National League North. He then moved to Blyth Spartans the following season before joining Whitby Town in February of this year.
Team News
Nathan Whitehead will unfortunately be out of action for a long time. Whitehead had a scan very recently which revealed that he has a partial tear in his ACL and meniscus.
Winger Dan Bramall will be suspended for this game following the red card he received in Matlock’s 1-1 draw at home to Atherton Collieries earlier this week.
Previous Meeting
Matlock Town’s last encounter with Whitby Town was in the Northern Premier League back on December 15th last year. An attendance of 258 at the Towbar Express Stadium witnessed Matlock defeat Whitby 3-1 thanks to two goals from Marcus Marshall and one from Luke Hinsley. Matty Tymon was the goalscorer for the Seasiders.
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