It was officially announced by Matlock Town early on Sunday evening that the club have had to postpone their home league encounter against Nantwich Town scheduled for Tuesday evening and have also been forced to withdraw from the FA Trophy.
The following measures have had to be taken as it has been confirmed that a number of Matlock Town’s players and coaching staff have recently tested positive for COVID-19. Matlock’s assistant manager, Dave Wild, confirmed that he was one of the members of the coaching staff that have tested positive on his own personal Twitter account on Saturday evening.
The Gladiators were scheduled to play away at Coalville Town in the FA Trophy third and final qualifying round on October 31 but with the tie not able to rearranged in time for when the affected Matlock players are able to report back for duty, the Gladiators have had no choice but to forfeit the cup clash and exit the FA Trophy without even kicking a ball. The forfeit means that Coalville Town have already received a walkover victory and are in the hat for the first round proper of the FA Trophy.
The measures which have had to be taken means that Matlock Town’s next scheduled game will now be on November 3 when they travel to Atherton Collieries in the NPL Premier Division. The measures also means that Matlock only have league games remaining for this season before we’ve even reached November. The Gladiators exited the FA Cup at the third qualifying round after losing 2-0 away at Guiseley while the Integro League Cup and the Derbyshire Senior Cup are not being played whatsoever for the 2020/21 season in order to try and make every team’s fixture list manageable following a delayed start to the campaign due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Matlock’s next scheduled game at the Proctor Cars Stadium is now on November 7 when the Gladiators host Whitby Town in the NPL Premier Division.
The news comes as a blow for Matlock Town who have made an excellent start to the 2020/21 campaign. The Gladiators currently sit in fifth position in the NPL Premier Division table with games in hand on all four teams that are above them. The most important thing for the club though, of course, is the health of the team’s players and coaching staff and everyone at Derbyshire Media Company wishes the affected players and members of the coaching staff well and a speedy recovery.
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