UniBond Premier League
Matlock Town 2
Worksop Town 2

Tigers finished the game with just nine players after two red cards, and Matlock came back from two goals down late in the match,

The two red cards shown to Andy Boyce and Kevin Sanasy were the major talking points after the game, when an excellent Tigers performance was overshadowed by these two decisions.

Just after half-time, Boyce cleared the ball but Simon Barraclough went over the top and caught the defender on the shin.

The incident was missed by the referee and a few seconds later there was a coming together of the two players, and when Barraclough went down, Boyce was dismissed for 'raising an arm'.

With the game going into added time, substitute Sanasy was apparently fouled in front of the referee and his assistant, but again no action was taken.

The Worksop striker vented his frustration at the assistant in somewhat colourful language and the referee showed his red card for the second time in the match.

The more encouraging side of the game for manager Peter Rinkcavage was some of the flowing passing moves, good wing play from Chris Adam and Matt Glass and the emergence of young striker Ben Tomlinson.

The home side were on top in the early stages of the game with former Tiger Dene Cropper prominent, but the Tigers were strong as a unit and limited the home side to long range efforts.

The only real chance came on 37 minutes when a mistake by Tom Jones let in Barraclough but Steve Hernandez rushed out of goal and made a great save.

Prior to that Andy White had gone close twice and Chris Glarvey brought a good save from Andy Richmond in the Matlock goal.

Chris Adam had a fairly quiet opening to the game but he lit up a foggy Causeway Lane with a superb goal. Picking the ball up wide on the left, he cut inside, weaving past defenders before firing a right foot shot into the bottom corner.

Before the interval another White effort was deflected into the side netting.

The home side changed into bright yellow shirts for the second half on the direction of the referee as the fog came down and threatened a possible abandonment.

With eight minutes gone Boyce received his red card and Scott Lowe came on as White was sacrificed for the cause.

Despite only having 10 men, Tigers went two up on 71 minutes, when a mix-up between centre-back Aiden Flint and keeper Richmond was pounced on by Tomlinson, he flicked it over the 6ft 3ins keeper, ran round him and before it touched the ground, headed into an empty net for a stunning goal.

Unfortunately the Tigers 10 men couldn't hold out and Jamie Jackson, who had been kept quiet by Kevin Davies down their right, was moved into the centre and scored twice inside two minutes, the first from a left wing cross, the second a run from just inside the Tigers half, a lack of any challenge gave him the chance to score from the edge of the box.

Tomlinson was replaced by Sanasy on 83 minutes and he saw a shot go over the bar before the incident that led to his red card.


MATCH FACTS

Matlock Town - Andy Richmond, Liam King, Matty Caudwell, Matty Thorpe, Aiden Flint, Lee Featherstone, Jamie Jackson, Steve Warne, Dene Cropper, Simon Barraclough, Paul Riley (Simon Harrison 74). Subs not used. Shaun Pendleton, Gary Webster and Nathan Benger.

Worksop Town - Steve Hernandez, Chris Glarvey, Kevin Davies, Gareth Holmes, Tom Jones, Andy Boyce, Matt Glass, Mick Galloway, Andy White (Scott Lowe 74), Ben Tomlinson (Kevin Sanasy 83), Chris Adam. Subs not used. Gary Townsend, Paul Dempsey and Callum Smith.

Referee - Mr A Howitt. Assistants - Mr C Barraclough and Mr K Saundby.

Attendance - 249

Goals - Matlock Town - Jamie Jackson 77 and 78 minutes
Worksop Town - Chris Adam 43 and Ben Tomlinson 71.

Yellow Cards - Matlock Town - Simon Barraclough 12 mins
Worksop Town - Chris Adam 13, Gareth Holmes 53, Tom Jones 82.

Red Cards - Worksop Town - Andy Boyce 53 and Kevin Sanasy 90.