REPORT: Matlock Town 2-0 Ramsbottom United

Two early goals within the space of 60 seconds put the Gladiators firmly in the driving seat, but frustratingly against a side which had conceded 100 league goals beforehand, they were unable to inflict further woe.

Ramsbottom never remotely looked like staging a recovery, but with the Rams at their mercy, the Gladiators let them off the hook with some sub standard decision making and distribution going forward, and when chances did come their way they wasted them.

But a crucial victory was the big factor and many a Matlock fan would have taken a 2-0 win had it been offered them on a plate at tea-time.

Attacking the Town End, Matlock started the game strongly and Rams goalkeeper and captain Grant Shenton had to dive smartly to his right to claw away a Niall McManus strike inside 60 seconds.

Then McManus went close again in the fifth minute, this time firing wide after cutting in from the left.

Nearly all of Ramsbottom’s few attempts throughout came from distance, Zak Hargreaves firing over by a good measure from a seventh minute corner before the Gladiators struck their devastating double whammy.

McManus was tripped 20 yards from goal, Micky Harcourt taking a fiercely driven free-kick on his 200th appearance which was deflected to McManus who gleefully cracked in the ninth minute opener from close range.

Then the Rams were cut open down the left as McManus and Joel Purkiss combined sweetly for the latter to scoop a cross for captain Danny Holland to emphatically head home his first goal since November.

With Ted Cribley having been delayed at work, Jordan Ball occupied a role wide on the right and was enjoying himself with some telling diagonal balls, one of which was a 50-yarder that nearly released Purkiss with a chance of adding to the tally and as Matlock dominated McManus cut in to drive narrowly wide and a fierce low Harcourt free-kick flew across the face of goal.

But then Matlock began to lose their way as the opportunities dried up somewhat.