Gladiators boss wants league points after cup distractions

[FF News]

With cup games dominating his side's fixture list at present, Matlock Town boss Mark Hume will be stressing the importance of collecting valuable Evo-Stik League points along the way as he prepares for Saturday's visit of newly promoted Sutton Coldfield Town.

The last three weeks has seen the Gladiators progress in the FA Trophy with wins over firstly Gresley and then last weekend at Shaw Lane Aquaforce, and they also accounted for Spalding United in the Integro Doodson NPL Cup following a penalty shoot out.

Since disappointingly losing to struggling Stamford and Whitby Town, Matlock are unbeaten in five outings, a 2-2 draw at high flying Salford City and a comfortable 3-0 win against Frickley Athletic both in the league included in that run, and after facing Sutton Coldfield, three of their next four matches are cup games.

Hume wants his side to maintain their focus in picking up valuable league points.

"The league's our bread and butter and Sutton Coldfield's important like the Frickley win was with it being sandwiched in between cup games ,we need to be looking to get the three points on Saturday, we mustn't lose sight of our commitments and responsibilities in the league."

It's a mid table six pointer with the Royals one place and one point better off than Matlock who lie in 14th spot, and after a dip in form recently, Sutton recovered superbly to knock Darlington 1883 out of the FA Trophy last weekend.

Hume's men also had a fine result, deservingly beating big spending Evo-Stik NPL First Division South title chasers Shaw Lane Aquaforce 2-1 in Barnsley. All three goals came in the opening thirteen minutes of the second half with goals from Nicky Travis and Danny Holland coming either side of Steven Istead's strike for the Ducks.

The match was played in atrocious conditions as torrential rain came down throughout the game, but Hume was delighted with his side's display.

"You couldn't expect a classic in those conditions and on a day like that you have to grind it out but to be fair it was a very good performance from the lads against a good side unbeaten at home. If they came up to the Premier Division, with the players they've got they'd do extremely well. The lads have set a standard now and Shaw Lane only had the better of about ten minutes of the game especially when they went with six players up at the end but we also had a lot of chances and could have scored more. We showed a lot of character."

Source: Matlock Town FC

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