Leek Town and Matlock Town ended up sharing the spoils with a 3-3 draw after a topsy turvy sort of a game where the in form visitors eased into a 2 goal lead before Leek fought back to level matters before half time. The Blues then looked to have turned it around and won all 3 pts with a goal just after the hour mark before Matlock stunned the home side with an equaliser in the last minute of added on time.

Leek manager, Josh Brehaut, made one change to the Blues team that had so impressively won at Macclesfield with Ollie Heywood returning to the side at the expense of Ollie Shenton slotting in on the left hand side of the defence resulting in Tom Curl moving back over to the right.

The opening period of the game had very little flow to it with both sides displaying plenty of energy when out of possession meaning that neither team were able to put together any meaningful passing moves until the 14th minute when Louis Potts, Billy Reeves and Liam Buckley combined down the Leek right to eventually win a corner that was met at the near post by Haywood with his looping header having to be pushed over his own bar by goalkeeper Jake Oram. The follow up corner was cleared leading to a Matlock counterattack and a low cross from the left was met by Remayne Campbell with the forward appealing for handball as his effort was blocked with the referee showing no interest.

However the next Matlock delivery into the Leek area, also from the left, would result in the opening goal on 20mins when Campbell was able to nod the ball down for his strike partner Montel Gibson to lash home and put the Gladiators ahead.

As they had done after going behind at Macclesfield the Blues tried to hit back quickly with the ball being worked up the edge of the Matlock area where Hayden Campbell tried an effort that was blocked and then the subsequent attempted clearance by a Gladiators defender hit Alex Hurst but only looped up safely into the hands of Oram.

After 29mins Leek’s task was made the more difficult as Matlock scored their second goal with their second effort on target. Once again it came from the Gladiators strike force combination of Campbell and Gibson as Campbell challenged Julius Ndene for a cross delivered into the area and the ball fell to the unmarked Gibson to rifle home low into the net.

Again Leek tried to respond and after a run down the left flank from Hayden Campbell he was able to pull the ball back to Buckley on the edge of the area who then teed up Reeves for a shot at goal but his effort was straight into the arms of Oram. The play immediately switched to the other end and the Blues had a lucky escape as Remayne Campbell lobbed Leek goalkeeper Dino Visser but saw his effort come back off the bar before being gathered by a relieved Visser.

The game had by now opened up and Leek came forward again as Curl broke forward out of defence. The ball was worked into the area to Hurst who was unable to get a clear sighter on goal. The ball broke for Curl who had continued into the area himself but his volleyed effort was into the side netting.

The Blues next attack did finally reap its rewards, however, after 36mins when it’s own strike partnership of Potts and Campbell linked up with Campbell playing an astute ball through for Potts to run onto. His low right footed effort looking for the far corner was saved well down to his right by Oram but he could only parry the ball and Alex Hurst was first to it to fire home the rebound and reduce the deficit.

The two goal lead was nearly restored by Matlock virtually straight from the kickoff as the end to end game continued with chances at both ends. Gibson had the perfect opportunity to complete a first half hat trick as a pass found him unmarked in the area and allowed to turn, but the striker hit his effort straight at Visser.

Leek’s equaliser arrived not long afterwards on 42mins and in a bizarre fashion. There seemed little danger as Hayden Campbell chased down a back pass to Oram and even though the keeper sliced his clearance so that it spun up into the air it still travelled a fair distance and reached central defender Josh Granite. The Gladiators captain then inexplicably looked to head the ball back to Oram but only succeeded in finding Hayden Campbell who was jogging back. The Leek striker took advantage of the gift presented to him to turn, advance on Oram, and calmly slot the ball past him to make it 2-2.

As the game entered first half stoppage time the game remained even and both sides had a chance to take a lead into the break. Matlocks Adam Clayton held his head in his hands in anguish as his free kick effort flew wide of Vissers post whilst at the other end the hard working Adam Porter saw his goal bound volley deflected wide for a Leek corner which was met by Potts, but his flicked header hit a Matlock defender to also be deflected narrowly over the bar.

LEEK TOWN 2 - MATLOCK TOWN 2 HT

The second half started in the same fashion as the first with neither side able to exert any period of control although there were some notable spells of good possession football by Leek without really troubling the Gladiators defence.

Again, as with the first half, the game then suddenly opened up with the visitors having the first chance after 54mins with Remayne Campbell having a free header from a cross from the left which he failed to get on target with a poor miss.

It was then Leek’s turn as a quickly taken free kick on 58mins released Potts inside the area but Oram had spotted the danger and was quickly out to deny the Blues striker with a blocked save.

However, Potts was to get onto the scoresheet just three minutes later in the home sides next attack to ensure all three Leek forward players had scored in consecutive home games. Hayden Campbells cross to the edge of the area was brought under control and held up by Potts before he was able to find the supporting Buckley bursting into the area. Buckleys shot was parried by Oram in a similar fashion to his save in the first half as Louis Potts was first to the loose ball to tuck it away and complete the Leek comeback after 61mins.

The turnaround certainly seemed to impact the visitors in a negative way as one or two nasty looking challenges resulted in bookings for Jeremiah Milambo, Sam Smart and Basile Zottos.

As a violent hailstorm broke out, Leek were looking relatively untroubled and the more likely team to score on the break. On 73mins another quickly taken free kick was played to Hurst who’s low ball into the area begged to be hit first time by the oncoming Campbell but he chose to take a touch and the chance was lost. Then Campbell became the creator as he was found down the left hand side and waited for support from the overlapping Haywood before cutting into the area and then providing a lovely back heeled pass into Heywoods path. Haywood tried to drive his effort in at the near port but only succeeded in finding the side netting.

The Gladiators made further substitutions to try and get back into the game and created a rare second half chance on 87mins when Zottos was found in the area but an important block by Heywood took the sting out of the shot and made the save comfortable for Visser.

The referee indicated there would be a minimum five minutes to be added onto the game and still Leek were dealing with everything the visitors were trying. However as the game reached its 95th minute Matlock won a final corner on the right and when this was delivered into the area Charlie Oglesby rose the highest to bullet an header into the net to deny the Blues maximum points and extend their own unbeaten run.

Having done so well to recover from a two goal deficit Leek will be bitterly disappointed to have conceded so late into the game but with other results going their way they still marginally closed on a number of teams above them in what is becoming a fairly congested lower half of the table. In fact, the Blues had temporarily climbed up to 14th in the table before Matlock’s equaliser returned them back to 19th. But if you had offered 7 points from the 9 on offer from games against Basford, Macclesfield and Matlock then most Leek fans, and manager Brehaut, would have taken that beforehand.

LEEK TOWN 3 - MATLOCK TOWN 3 FT

REPORT BY WINNERS LAD

Match Photo Gallery by Jim Booth HERE

So the Blues start the year with an encouraging draw on the back of some good form as they travel to another form team on Saturday 4 January with a visit to Ilkeston Town.

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Attendance : 703
Unused substitutes : Milner, Onyeka, Scully