Matlock (A)

[holymoley]

Well done Halesowen onwards and upwards

[AwayDayYeltz]

Enjoyable game where we did just about enough to battle through the tie and win. So pleased we're through a relatively tough tie. We're due a cup run.

[AwayDayYeltz]

Well done lads! And 6k in the bank.
Cheers for the updates Josh.

Apologies for the poor grammar. It's bloody hard to type when there's a mosoon pouring down on your phone.

[lutleyyeltz]

Great result! Hoping for a home tie next round.

[RobYeltz]

A really pleasing win today and a worthy win.

We came out of the blocks quickly and really could have been 3 or 4 up in the first 15 minutes, Roberts took his goal well but perhaps could have had another early on as well, Hughes missed a chance that looked harder to miss than score and Ali and Gilpin should have done better also. I really liked to 433 formation too with Roberts starting wide left and cutting in to join Hughes, they struggled to deal with his (Roberts) running and movement. Gilpin on the other side meant they couldn't push their full backs on and it helped us have more space in midfield for the ball playing and distribution of Goddard and Ali. Rea's contribution shouldn't be ignored either as he sat in front of our back four and mopped things up. The two new lads Ezewele and Moore both looked comfortable too. Matlock only really came into the game after half an hour or so but most Yeltz fans were probably thinking the same that were really should have had the game wrapped up by then - fortunately most of their efforts came from long range and Platty didn't have much to do. It wasn't until the second half that Platt made his first meaningful save tipping away an effort from the edge of the box. Within the space of a couple of minutes we went from Gilpin missing a great chance to put us 2-0 up and then a minute later he gave away a daft penalty and it ended up 1-1. Inevitably that gave the home side some encouragement but we still looked dangerous especially when we got the ball out to Roberts on the left. His excellent approach play and then pass to Hughes put us 2-1 up when Hughesy kept his calm before placing the ball past the keeper.

Admittedly Matlock (especially defensively) were very poor, but credit where due we made them look poor and we got the result we wanted. It was great to see us really go for it today from the first whistle and we should have had the game safe inside 20 minutes with better finishing. Hopefully now with the new players in we can see a settled side and confidence grow with the players we have. Today was more like what we have all wanted to see - hopefully it's the lift and stepping stone we need to move forwards. Any win in the cup is great but today we won well. Hopefully we can have that cup run that our owners who have invested in the club deserve. Up the Yeltz!

[andy]

Sounds like we won well with a system that worked and entertained? If so long may it continue.

[AwayDayYeltz]

The early goal helped, It would've been intriguing to see how we'd have coped without the head start.

In short, today papers over cracks IMO. Let's not kid ourselves.

We beat a poor side, I trust our owners recognise this too.

[dalevillain]

Well I was going to do a full match analysis but appears that RobYeltz beat me to it. Fantastic post that and pretty much spot on from what I would have written so not too much to add.

But it was pleasing for us to come out the traps and have the upper hand from the start, look so positive and go a goal in front so early on. Must have been a while since that happened?!

I think overall we deserved the win after a bit of a scare second half so can’t be too over critical today. We’ve had a tough game on paper and done a job so you can not argue with that.

I think we saw more of a balanced line up today - I just hope we can settle down and keep this group of players together. I’m not a fan of these constant ‘Friday Klaxon signings’ every week. It strikes an ounce of desperation for me and doesn’t give confidence in the management team. Let’s hope we don’t have any more for a while...

[RobYeltz]

We beat a poor side, I trust our owners recognise this too.

We did beat a poor side I agree, but you can only beat what is in front of you and we've struggled too many times against these type of poor sides in the cups on numerous occasions in the last few years. Today we deserved to win, please give credit where due Josh - apart from a short spell when they had the penalty (and it lifted them) we didn't really look in trouble with Platty only making one save all game and them scoring the needlessly given away penalty. Today is a good day, we should enjoy it. With the two new defenders who've now come in we should hopefully see some stability in the squad now and with it hopefully improved performances and results.

[HalesowenHarry]

Matlock's match report http://www.matlocktownfc.co.uk/match/8826/

MATLOCK TOWN 1-2 HALESOWEN TOWN

Veteran striker Lee Hughes netted a winner for Halesowen with twenty minutes left to exacerbate Matlock’s miserable run and dump them out of the FA Cup at the first stage without any prize money from the sponsors’ kitty.

Matlock could and most probably should have been dead and buried within the first twenty minutes. Their defence was all over the place and fortunately they were just the one goal behind, scored by the best attacker on the field, James Roberts, on six minutes.

Shaun Harrad equalised from the penalty spot just before the hour and with the Gladiators in the ascendancy, another healthy crowd of 403 was probably expecting the hosts to kick on and claim victory.

But Matlock could not maintain the momentum, Halesowen stood firm and recovered to add £6,000 to their coffers.

Injuries again ruled out skipper Adam Yates, and striker Jamie Jackson with Ted Cribley being added to the list with hamstring trouble. Jake Phillips did not feature so there was a surprise call up at full back for Jan Yeomans, recalled from loan at Radford, while Adam Smith and Alex Hurst were named in the midfield zone.

Matlock were all at sea defensively in the opening exchanges. Almost immediately goalkeeper Richard Walton sliced a back pass from Dan Vann out for a corner only to make amends with a smart stop from Hughes. Then Roberts from the resulting corner forced a block save from Walton but ROBERTS would fare better when Matlock failed to deal with a routine punt down the centre from goalkeeper Daniel Platt, allowing the Halesowen danger man to slip through and clip his shot past Walton. From the Matlock viewpoint it was the softest of goals.

Roberts went close again eight minutes later, a simple flick on from Hughes giving him a shooting chance which Walton blocked with his foot.

Matlock at last threatened on 20 minutes when Harry Vince narrowly missed out on a fine low centre from Michael Williams but Halesowen broke at pace, with Roberts linking up effectively with Jordan Goddard whose chip found Hughes with only Walton to beat inside the six yard box. Hughes pushed his shot wide and fans were left wondering whether this would be a huge turning point.

The Gladiators replied with spirit, Harrad volleying wide from the edge of the box before Vince squandered a great chance of an equaliser, screwing his shot wide with only Platt to beat after more excellent approach play from Williams on the right. Then successive shots from distance by Hurst and Smith were narrowly off target.

Billy Whitehead replaced Luke Rawson at the interval, the new half getting under way with another fine run by Williams ending when his cross was cut out leading to a swift Halesowen break, Walton scrambling away a low effort from Aaron Gilpin.

Yeomans drove too high before Whitehead would have been disappointed to shoot into the sidenetting when a glorious opportunity to make a name for himself came his way.

Substitute Kieren Watson was on for Smith as Matlock had three out and out strikers on view, Watson looked to be pushed in the back by Kieran Morris, referee Sam Kane waving away Matlock’s appeals. But when Hurst, a bundle of energy and Matlock’s best performer on the day, was brought down by Gilpin shortly afterwards, HARRAD slammed home the spot kick.

Shortly afterwards Whitehead was unfortunate as he neatly turned Asa Charlton from Dwayne Wiley’s through pass, his goalbound shot being superbly turned aside by Platt.

But Matlock failed to build on their recovery as Halesowen consolidated and the men in blue fell behind once again when Goddard found space in midfield to advance and find HUGHES who was given far too much time and room in the box to turn and shoot low past Walton.

A free kick played low across the penalty box was gathered by Platt, it was Matlock’s most dangerous attack afterwards as despite having plenty of the possession, they could not fashion another decent chance.

Defensively Matlock have huge problems and had Halesowen made hay early on, the tie would have been over. Although it was an improved performance after the debacle against Whitby, the Gladiators have a long way still to go to look competitive at Step Three in the non league pyramid. The pressure on them just keeps on intensifying.

MATLOCK TOWN: 1 Richard Walton 2 Jake Green (12 Charlie Dawes 86) 3 Jan Yeomans 4 Adam Smith (17 Kieren Watson 57) 5 Dan Vann 6 Dwayne Wiley 7 Michael Williams 8 Harry Vince 9 Shaun Harrad 10 Alex Hurst 11 Luke Rawson (16 Billy Whitehead 46) Other subs: 14 Ashton Hall 15 Harry Wood 18 Jordan Pierrepont 19 Marcus Marshall

HALESOWEN TOWN: 1 Daniel Platt 2 Kieran Morris 3 Jack Kelly 4 Jack Rea 5 Louis Ezewele 6 Asa Charlton 7 Aaron Gilpin (17 Samuel Tonks 65) Jordan Goddard 9 Lee Hughes ( 12 Sylvan Ebanks-Blake 75) 10 Ahmed Ali 11 James Roberts (14 Daniele Bragoli 89) Other subs: 15 Ivor Lawton 16 Matthew Baker

REFEREE: Sam Kane (Nottingham) ATTENDANCE: 403 BEST GLADIATOR: Alex Hurst