Matlock made the short journey to Ashbourne in the knowledge that the game was likely to be something of an arm wrestle as recent games between the two sides have all been very close affairs. The match day squad included a couple of changes. Harry Morton’s ankle injury kept him out for another week so Dan Hooton swapped to inside centre and Harry Boyd to outside with Josh Dixey returning from injury to fill the vacant wing berth in his first outing for the club this season at any level. Charlie Jackson moved to hooker in the absence of Curtis Bolam and Tom Cruttenden returned on the flank. Underfoot conditions were rather gloopy from the outset and having won the toss Matlock elected to play uphill for the first half. There was a strong icy wind blowing directly across the pitch. Ashbourne took the kick off and Matlock gathered the ball and moved through a couple of phases before an inside pass from Alex Powell saw Mike Allen power through a gap on halfway, before handing off the next would be tackler and stepping round the full back to score under the posts with barely two minutes on the clock. Tom Morton added the extras for an early 0-7 lead. A buoyant Matlock looked to capitalise on this start but it wasn’t long before their best laid plans were given a body blow when play maker James Young had to leave the field with a neck injury after he was taken out by a late cheap shot at a ruck, so late in fact that the referee was following the play and therefore didn’t see the unsavoury incident. Mark Thornley came off the bench and Dixey switched to full back with Alex Powell taking over at fly half. It took a while for Matlock to settle down again and this gave the home side a window to get back into the game by virtue of a pushover try from a five metre scrum with the visitors pack being unable to keep their footing on a rapidly worsening playing surface. The rest of the first half became the expected arm wrestle with both sides struggling to maintain control of the ball for any length of time. Matlock went down to fourteen men when Powell was given a yellow for an offence at the breakdown and on the stroke of half time the visitors were relieved when the referee disallowed what looked like a good score for the home side due to him being unable to see the touchdown. Maybe that was karma for the earlier foul play but either way it was a stroke of luck for the visitors. Half time 5-7.
The second half kicked off and the game soon became a real battle of attrition with the worsening weather conditions playing into the hands of the heavier home pack and away from the silkier skills of the visitors. For the most part the two defences nullified any attacking opportunities and although Matlock extended their lead to 10-5 with a Tom Morton penalty kick the visitors spurned their best opportunity to score when finding themselves within a metre or two of the Ashbourne line, instead of being patient and continuing to pick and drive they passed the ball out and a knock on relieved the pressure on the home side. With wet snow being driven across the pitch by a howling wind neither side could hold onto the ball for long periods. With only two minutes left on the clock Ashbourne worked themselves into a good attacking position with another five metre scrum. Relying on the tried and tested approach their heavier pack again got the nudge at the scrum and agonisingly the Matlock pack could not prevent the second pushover try. The conversion attempt was wide but scores were now level at 10-10. Moments later both sides were relieved to hear the full time whistle meaning they could swap the horrendous weather for the shelter of the changing rooms, where conditions were only marginally better than those outside!
All things considered the draw was probably a fair result with the squad giving everything in pretty awful conditions. If earlier opportunities had been finished off the win may have been possible but the general defence was solid throughout the side. In a difficult game young Mark Thornley put in a good performance.
Team: Wright T, Jackson C, Stokes T, Atkinson C, Harrod J, Cruttenden T, Emmerson M, Wright S, Morton T, Young J, Allen M, Hooton D, Boyd H, Dixey J, Powell A
Bench: Ball D, Braund P, Thornley M

Next week Matlock are hoping for better weather when they entertain their even closer rivals Bakewell kick off 2.15pm. It is the first VP’s Lunch of the season so a large partisan crowd is expected.