Matlock Town face Carlton Town at the Bill Stokeld Stadium tonight in the First Qualifying Round of the FA Trophy after the tie was called off over the weekend.
The Gladiators come into this cup clash in poor form with five defeats in their last six games and the pressure will be on Matlock to avoid a cup upset and gain some much-needed momentum.
The Opposition
Carlton Town play in the Northern Premier League South East Division which is one tier below the Gladiators and are nicknamed the Millers. The Bill Stokeld Stadium is located in the village of Gedling which lies right next to the town of Carlton which officially belongs as an area of Nottingham.
The Millers have made a superb start to this season. Carlton Town currently lead the NPL South East Division by three points ahead of Leek Town and are a major contender to be competing in the same league as Matlock Town next season. The Nottinghamshire outfit have won eight of their eleven league games so far in this campaign and have lost only once.
They are unbeaten in their last six competitive matches and have won their last four games in a row. Carlton have already navigated their way through two rounds of the FA Trophy just to reach the First Qualifying Round. In the Extra Preliminary Qualifying Round they beat St Neots Town at home 3-1 and in the Preliminary Qualifying Round they defeated Bedford Town at home 3-2. In their most recent game, the Millers beat Worksop Town away from home 1-0 in the league thanks to a late goal from Martin Ball.
The Millers have two managers who jointly run proceedings and they are Tommy Brookbanks and Mark Harvey. The Bill Stokeld Stadium’s capacity is 1,500 and has one stand which seats a maximum of 164 people. Carlton Town’s most recent trophy victory was the Nottinghamshire Senior Cup which they won in the 2016-17 season.
One to Watch
Defender Martin Ball will be a key player to look out for. Ball has earned rave reviews from Millers fans this season and as mentioned before scored a late winner in Carlton’s most recent match and also won the Player of the Match award after the 1-0 victory over Worksop Town.
Ball has scored three times already from defence this season in 15 appearances so far and has also won two Player of the Match awards in this campaign.
Team News
Leading goal scorer Marcus Marshall returns from a one match suspension and will be available for selection for Saturday’s game. Piteu Crouz is still unavailable as Saturday’s game marks the last of the three matches that he is suspended for.
Jack Rea is still a doubt with a groin strain as he didn’t even make it to the bench for Matlock’s most recent game away at Radcliffe.
Previous Meeting
The record books show that these two teams have only ever met once before. Their sole clash took place in 2010 on Saturday 25th September at the Bill Stokeld Stadium in the FA Cup Second Qualifying Round.
Matlock Town won the tie 1-0 thanks to a 12th minute goal from Kris Bowler in front of an attendance of 199.
Comments