Matlock Town face off against fellow promotion rivals Warrington Town on Tuesday night in the Northern Premier Division at the Proctor Cars Stadium.
The Gladiators played superbly last Saturday in their 3-1 home victory against Mickleover Sports and will be looking to carry on this momentum to possibly go as high as second in the league by the end of Tuesday night.
The Opposition
Warrington Town currently occupy sixth place in the Northern Premier Division just outside the playoff zone. They sit two points behind the Gladiators but do also have two games in hand on them. The Wire have only lost two league games so far this season and are still unbeaten in the league away from home. In their most recent match, Warrington Town beat Whitby Town away from home 1-0 in the league thanks to a late goal from Tony Gray.
The Wire have finished in 3rd place in the Northern Premier Division for the past two seasons and are expected to be in the promotion reckoning once again for this season.
Warrington’s manager is Paul Carden. Carden played for numerous clubs over the course of his playing career including Rochdale, Chester City, Peterborough United and Cambridge United. Carden was part of the Chester City team that won the Conference league title in the 2003-04 season and he also won the club’s Player of the Season award for the 2004-05 season. He has managed Southport and has also had a caretaker stint at Tranmere Rovers.
One to Watch
Experienced full-back David Raven will be one to watch for Matlock Town fans. Raven is jokingly compared to Cafu in terms of his style of play by Warrington fans.
The 34 year-old started his playing career on Liverpool’s books and did actually make a Premier League appearance for them. Raven’s career has mostly been split between playing in the Football League and in Scotland.
He spent four seasons at Carlisle United before moving onto Shrewsbury Town and Tranmere Rovers. He then went on to spend six seasons at Inverness Caledonian Thistle where he made 153 league appearances for them.
Raven also has international experience to his name with appearances for England at U18, U19 and U20 level.
Team News
Piteu Crouz is unavailable as he is suspended for the next three games following the straight red card he received in Matlock Town’s 2-1 home defeat against Scarborough Athletic.
Jack Rea is still a doubt with a groin strain while Nathan Whitehead will be on the sidelines for a lengthy amount of time.
Luke Rawson’s loan spell has now ended with the Gladiators and he has joined Brighouse Town on loan from Chesterfield.
Last Meeting
Matlock Town’s most recent encounter against Warrington Town was on April 6th towards the end of last season at the Proctor Cars Stadium.
The Gladiators lost to Warrington 2-0 thanks to goals from Jack Dunn and Tony Gray in front of an attendance of 419.
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