Wednesday 12th January 2011
by Ian Richardson
 Having won four out of their last five league matches, Mark Atkins' Matlock Town now find themselves up in third spot, and Atkins (left) says he wants his side to go all out for more wins.
"We're playing to a good standard at the minute with four wins out of five. We've got to try and win games, it's no use going for draws, so I'll be looking for more of the same great attitude from the players in the games to come" Atkins pledged as he prepares his men for two more tough clashes against fellow promotion rivals.
And revenge for earlier league defeats should be in the Matlock squad's minds as Saturday's visitors to the Reynolds Stadium, Worksop Town, inflicted a first away defeat on Matlock by a 2-1 margin in October, before on Tuesday, Matlock travel down the A38 to Chasetown, mindful of a controversial refereeing performance from Mark Jones in the 4-3 home reverse to the Scholars last September.
"Worksop are a very good side," he warned, "but we are at home and I'm expecting us to have a good chance of collecting all three points. We didn't really perform at their place in the league (Matlock had earlier gained a 3-1 victory over the Tigers in the FA Cup) and Worksop fully deserved their win on the night.
"They have some very good players for this league and if Halifax hit a rough patch, they could well be in contention for top spot. but if we can go out there and again play to our full capabilities then we'll stand a very good chance of coming out on top.
"As for Chasetown, they've come up and done very well. It'll be a difficult place to go on a Tuesday night, but we'll go down there and give it our best shot and hope that we have better luck with the refereeing decisions this time."
Matlock followed up a hard fought 1-0 win at Frickley on Saturday with an equally hard earned 2-1 home success against North Ferriby, the results and performances in both wins cheering Atkins.
"We said to the lads before the Burscough game that we needed to start to put another run of wins together after the disappointing show at Mickleover, now it's three on the bounce and the players deserve full credit for their application and determination.
"People are still coughing and spluttering in that dressing room, players are playing out of position and they're doing this both for their team mates and the football club. You cannot give them qualities like that, they're inside them and they're great qualities to have."
The one black mark on the pitch was the dismissal of Gareth Davies for an alleged head butt on Chris Bolder against North Ferriby.
"Gareth reckons he never did anything, but nevertheless, he'll now have a three match ban which isn't ideal with our small squad" Atkins admitted. "But let's concentrate on the performance. North Ferriby came at us very quickly in the opening ten or so minutes of both halves, but after their initial early burst we took the game to them and bossed the rest of the first half getting a good equalising goal.
"The sending off could have put a dampener on things but the response was magnificent with a great winner. We had something to hold on to, going 4-4-1 with the two banks of four. If we hadn't scored, I'd probably have kept the two players up in attack."
The manager admits he faces a dilemma with skipper James Lukic probably being fit enough for a recall after missing the last five games through suspension, a back injury and then a nasty dose of flu.
"We're hoping James will be back for the Worksop game, he's had a bit of a run at the game on Tuesday and we'll have him training on Thursday, hopefully the illness will be out of his system.
"I've got a dilemma, but a good one. There's lots of things to think about, a few have played a lot of games in a short space of time. It's important we use the whole squad wisely."
The North Ferriby tie attracted Matlock's lowest gate of the season as just 224 hardy souls braved a cold night.
Chairman Tom Wright and Atkins said they were both hoping for a vastly improved attendance against Worksop and in future games at the Reynolds Stadium.
"The lads are working hard and deserve a good level of support. There's a lot of people working very hard behind the scenes at this football club and I believe the players are replicating that on the pitch, so it would be nice to see more people coming through the turnstiles and cheering the team on" said Atkins.
"224 was disappointing although it was a cold night and North Ferriby brought hardly anyone down with them," Wright admitted. "I know times are hard financially, but it's the same for all clubs at this level, Matlock Town included.
"We've vastly improved our facilities with the new stand offering a great comfortable view and work on our new Social Club is nearing completion. The team are doing very well and as things stand, we've got a great chance of reaching the play offs.
"Worksop has the makings of being a great game on Saturday, they'll bring a good following with them, so we're looking to the people of Matlock to come on down and support the club both vocally and financially like they've done so many times in the past."
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