Great performance brings some early Christmas Cheer

In the last game before the Christmas break Matlock were looking for a good performance to banish the relative disappointment of the draw at Coalville. As now seems customary the squad saw several enforced changes and with some players having travelled a fair distance to be home for Christmas the line-up had an air of the cosmopolitan about it. With the back-line suffering from a number of casualties Alex Powell arrived back home from Dallas to step in at full back allowing Whittaker to move to the centre. James Noble also back from his travels came into the pack allowing Coombes to fill the other centre vacancy. Ritchie returned early from his groin injury to play at flyhalf and Luke Howard found himself on the bench fresh from his trip to New Zealand. Charlie Jackson started on the flank in the absence of Jack Wagg.
The game kicked off and Matlock were soon into their stride playing with pace and intensity. Loughborough have also been struggling with squad issues and had to defend stoutly in the opening minutes to keep Matlock from crossing the line. With ten minutes gone the visitors took the lead with a penalty kick against the run of play. Loughborough made a good break which was halted by a good tackle on the Matlock 22 by Whittaker who was then penalised for not rolling away. Within two minutes Matlock hit back with their first try. From the restart Loughborough were under pressure but their attempted clearance was re-gathered by Simon Wright who ran the ball back. The ball was recycled and moved to Ritchie who found Robinson on his shoulder to break through two attempted tackles to score near the posts. Morton added the extras. Matlock’s pack were looking strong in both the set plays and in the loose and the backs were also looking sharp with ball in hand. On sixteen minutes Matlock extended their lead when Simon Wright crashed over for the second try and Morton again obliged with the conversion to make it 14-3. With the forwards continuing to carry strongly this provided a great platform for the backs to attack with Coombes making several strong runs and a brave Loughborough side were struggling to keep the home side at bay. In the last ten minutes of the half Matlock scored two more tries from Richardson and Kawalek both following good build up and support play. Morton converted one of these to make the half time score 26-3.
The second half began with Loughborough enjoying some rare possession and territory but this didn’t last long when with only two minutes from the restart Buckley intercepted in Matlock’s twenty two before racing to half way and passing to the pacey Whittaker to leave the defenders in his wake to score his first try. The conversion attempt was wide 31-3. Ten minutes later Whittaker crossed for his second try. A Matlock scrum on their own ten metre line saw Wright pick up at the base to feed Morton who in turn fed Whittaker who again showed the defenders a clean pair of heels. Morton added the extras again to take the score to 38-3. Loughborough were hanging on valiantly but were unable to stop the flow as a rampant Matlock finished off with two more tries. The first was a typical Matt Goodall try as he again showed his immense strength and deceptive pace to force his way over. The second came following a scrum which Matlock won against the head. Simon Wright picked up and drove forward, the quickly recycled ball was moved to Coombes who made a long miss pass for Kawalek to go over in the corner. Both conversion attempts were off target. Minutes later the final whistle blew with Matlock worthy winners 48-3.
This was a good solid performance which showed the growing strength in depth within the squad. With three or four of this season’s go to players missing from the three-quarter line the Matlock backs played with pace, precision and authority and the forwards led the way providing them with a great platform.
After the Christmas break selection will become interesting with a number of players all likely to be back from injury. A bit of healthy competition is no bad thing and will obviously be a boost throughout the playing set-up.
Team: Goodall, Richardson, Wright T, Twyford, Robinson, Carr, Wright S, Jackson, Morton, Ritchie, Kawalek, Coombes, Whittaker, Buckley.
Bench: Ball, Noble, Howard

It is still very tight at the top of the table but this win together with Coalville’s narrow victory at Notts Casuals sees Matlock on top at the break, with a small two point cushion and now also with a better points difference.
The next game will be on January 10th away to Market Bosworth kick off 2.15pm