Frustrating run continues at Ashbourne

Matlock travelled the short distance to face their local rivals Ashbourne in determined mood following the previous two under par performances. However despite working hard on certain aspects of their game their frustrations were further compounded by the third close defeat on the bounce. Injuries and unavailability’s once again prompted a few changes to the match day squad.
Despite James Fairclough, Mike Allen, Dave Hartley, James Harrod and Lewis Richardson all being unavailable for selection Matlock still had a strong enough line up for this game. On the bench Conor Loughnane joined Rory Cookman and player coach Dan Hooton who was returning from injury.

From the kick off Matlock started well but were soon given an early setback when captain Simon Wright was shown a yellow card for a deemed high tackle with only two minutes played. The visitors responded well putting pressure on the home side and preventing them from advancing up the pitch. With Ashbourne in possession at a ruck on their own 22 Tim Taylor’s powerful counter rucking saw the ball turned over and Matlock were awarded a penalty. Morton kicked to the corner and a strong catch and drive resulted in Tim Taylor touching down. Morton’s conversion attempt fell short but Matlock had a slender 0-5 lead with only 5 minutes on the clock. Ashbourne responded well but seemed to be having little success until they fashioned a break aided initially by some sloppy defence and a fairly obvious forward pass which allowed them a free run in for a converted try, 7-5.

Moments later Simon Wright re-joined the fray. On 15 minutes the home side took the lead with a well taken try out wide when again Matlock’s defensive organisation was found wanting. The conversion attempt was wide 12-5. Stung by this far too easy score Matlock regrouped and responded well. At the restart Ashbourne knocked on, Matlock seized upon the loose ball and played some excellent phases until at a ruck on the Ashbourne 22 metre Tom Morton passed to Curtis Bolam who picked a good line to break through the defensive line and step the next defender before finding Atkinson in close support to run round under the posts. Tom Morton added the extras levelling the scores at 12-12 with 18 minutes gone. Unfortunately for the visitors, this was Bolam’s last action in the game as he was forced to leave the field with an ankle injury, Conor Loughnane coming off the bench. Moments later George Whittaker left the field due to injury, Dan Hooton came on and went to the wing with Mark Thornley switching to full back. The game continued to be an arm wrestle with the home side’s obvious spoiling tactics going unnoticed for the most part. This led to a certain amount of frustration building up which manifested itself by player’s appealing for some decisions. This went against the visitors who were penalised for appealing for a decision when in a good attacking position. Ashbourne kicked to just outside the Matlock 22 metre line. Matlock’s indiscretion was then compounded by a further penalty in front of the posts which Ashbourne converted for a 15-12 lead with 5 minutes to play behalf half time, hopefully a lesson learned for the visitors. Again Matlock responded well, working their way up field to a strong attacking position. Awarded a penalty 5 metres out Matlock chose to scrum and had the home side in all sorts of trouble. The referee penalised the Ashbourne scrum and the Matlock pack again applied the pressure. With a pushover try looking certain the Ashbourne pack again broke up to stop the advance. The referee had seen enough and awarded the penalty try right on the stroke of half time and Matlock had nudged in front 15-19.
The second half began badly. Ashbourne won the restart and as they moved the ball quickly Matlock’s midfield defence left too big a gap which the home side exploited to score again out wide. Again they missed the conversion 20-19. Matlock once again responded and created several good opportunities. Dan Hooton chased a long kick down the touch line only to see his chip ahead agonisingly roll into touch feet from the corner flag when he looked favourite to score. Shortly afterwards he had to leave the field having aggravated a previous injury and George Whittaker re-joined the game. Ashbourne increased their lead on 70 minutes from a catch and drive leaving Matlock looking for a converted try to get the victory. The pacey George Whittaker found himself on the end of two overlaps either of which should have ended in a score but the final passes to him were both very poor and the chances were wasted. As the game moved into the last 5 minutes, Matlock piled on the pressure and despite spending all the remaining time literally pounding the Ashbourne line, they could not force the winning score.
Next week Matlock are at home to Ashby who recorded a good win over Market Rasen in their latest game. At the moment results aren’t going our way due to small margins. More hard work on the training ground this week will hopefully see recent fortunes change in our favour.

Team: Wright T, Bolam C, Statham A, Taylor T, Atkinson C, Emmerson M, Jackson C, Wright S, Morton T, Young J, Howard L, Morton H, Boyd H, Thornley M, Whittaker G
Bench: Loughnane C, Cookman R, Hooton D