Teversal were dealt a blow hours before kick off of being without a recognised striker as Jason Dawson was recalled to the 1st team game due to the illness of Jimmy Adcock.
Josh Radford and leading scorer Jamie Walters were both missing so having to take on our title contenders without a striker was always going to be a tough ask and so it proved to be.
Oscar Govan-Greenacre was given the task to lead the line which in a difficult game he gave everything he had but we couldn't give him any decent service so he cut a lonely figure up top.
Joe Toon was also absent as was Matthew Langley who was called up to the 1st team, so again we had to shuffle the pack, Stefan Cobb coming in at left back, Harvey Lane returning from holiday to partner Pavinder Singh in the middle Scott Taylor taking the right back slot, Joseph Darby in goal and John Lee being asked to anchor the midfield alongside Craig Newton and Jack Hutchinson.
Tom Bates and Lewis weaver playing out on either flank with Oscar up front, the bench consisted of Ashley Wilson, Joe Patrick another being asked to step up from the u-18`s and Lee Townsend who wasn't still 100% as his shins are a concern.

Matlocks ball retention was good and Teversal had to work their socks off to keep them at bay and Town had the 1st attempt as early as the 3rd minute but could only find the side netting, within a minute Dave Edge got clear but Joseph Darby made a good save.
For 10 or so minutes its Matlock playing keep ball and Teversals work rate keeping them out, Siddall, Edge and Jenkins for the visitors are a little too keen to get forward at times and Teversals well martialled back line catching them off side time after time.

On 13 minutes Declan Jenkins catches the off side trap out and goes clear but luckily for Teversal his shot goes narrowly wide.
In the 18th minute good work by Lewis Weaver whose effort is charged down on the edge of the box and Jack Hutchinson can’t get over his effort and it flies well over the bar.

Teversals work rate is to be admired as despite Matlock bossing possession they are finding Teversal a tough nut to open up.
Matlock fashion a chance in the 27th minute but Siddalls effort is well held by Darby.
Then on 32 a peach of a pass sends Jenkins clean through on goal and as he reaches the edge of the box Joseph Darby comes out to spread himself and makes a tremendous point blank save, the ball breaks to Dave Edge who plays the ball forward back to Jenkins who is in an off side position so he makes no attempt to play the ball and Teversal are able to clear the danger.

34th minute sees Mr Blackburn brandish his yellow cards Sam Lavelle and Oscar Govan-Greenacre the recipients for a bit of pushing and shoving.
Despite Matlock bossing possession and creating a few good chances on 39 minutes Teversal found themselves a goal to the good Craig Newton’s left hand corner was allowed to bounce in the area where Scott Taylor met it thumping Teversal into the lead with Matlocks defenders looking blame-fully at each other for not picking Taylor up.

Matlock carried the fight to Teversal and Dave Edge bought another top save from Darby on 42 minutes , and as we went into the final 30 seconds of the half Matlock got a deserved equaliser, Jack Siddall allowed to run from the half way line down the right side and as Teversal continued to back off he unleashed a bullet which ended up nestling in the top right corner and for once Joseph Darby couldn’t do anything about it, a great strike but questions asked as to why it was so easy for him to get the shot away, Teversal kicked off and the ref blew for half time so close to going in ahead .

The 2nd half followed a similar pattern with John Lee, Craig Newton and Jack Hutchinson trying manfully to stem the Matlock passing Lees work rate for a youthful 38 to be commended, Matlock got the final pass right as Jack Siddall was released and as Teversal waited for the flag to go up Siddall calmly ran through before giving Darby no chance and on 55 minutes Matlock got themselves in front and Teversal now had to somehow bounce back and try to get on the front foot, this had been difficult as Weaver , Bates and Govan-Greenacre had been starved of any real service .
On the hour mark John Lee had given his all and so we introduced some fresh youthful legs in Ashley Wilson, but it was a day when Teversals best efforts were coming up short and we struggled to keep any meaningful possession meaning we were constantly chasing Matlock down, where Town were content to play keep ball, even it meant going across the back line a couple of times.

Joseph Darby again in action making a good save when Dave Awolomo wriggled free on 66 minutes. Teversal did cause a slight panic as a ball clipped to the back post had Marco Taaffe in the visitor’s goal in sixes and sevens as it looped over him but no Teversal player had gambled on the far post and Matlock had a simple clearance to make. Lewis Weaver then went clear down the right and as Taaffe came out Weavers shot missed the left hand post by a foot with Taaffe a spectator, and with it Teversals last real chance went.
70 minutes in Lee Townsend who wasn’t expected to play came on to replace Craig Newton and within 2 minutes Matlock town sealed the points with a neat turn and finish from David Awolomo, with that Teversal made their final change giving Joe Patrick a taste of reserve team football replacing Tom Bates.

Matlocks ball retention had taken its toll on the Tevie legs and Matlock were starting to open us up a bit compared to the 1st half when we defended well all over the park.
Joseph Darby now busier than he had been all season making 2 or 3 quality saves as Matlock turned the screw trying to capitalise on tired legs. As we entered the final 10 minutes Matlock picked out a couple more chances that they took Declan Jenkins fired in number 4 after another good move down Teversals left on 77, a 5th arrived on 81, Dave Edge slammed in a rebound after another save from Darby was only part cleared. Edge probably giving a sigh of relief as he had missed a number of presentable chances during the game.

In the end Teversal were outdone by a side who made us do all the running by retaining the ball well and despite our commitment and work rate not to be knocked we lacked that bit of quality to create a chance or two, something we hadn’t had a problem with until today.
We ran out of energy in the end, John Lee at 38 put in an incredible amount of work as did everyone but Matlocks youthful midfield eventually catching up with John. In the end 5 - 1 didn’t really give Teversal much credit as to a man they battled manfully to limit a good all round Matlock side but at the death holes appeared and good sides punish teams as Matlock did on the day.

Difficult to single out someone for the mom award but score line could have been worse if not for numerous saves from one of the best young keepers at his age group.

Man of the match == Joseph Darby