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Saturday 5th February - Matlock Town 1-1 Frickley Athletic

Frickley came away from Causeway Lane with a creditable point, although the fans that traveled to Derbyshire could be forgiven for thinking that all three points could well have been gained from the game. Especially after Wael Nazha gave Frickley a deserved half time and with the home side being forced to play midfielder Ricky White in goal for the duration of the second half following an injury to 'keeper Ian Bowling, but Frickley's second half performance failed to match the energy of the first. Matlock equalised on the hour mark with a spectacular 40 yard shot from Kris Bowler who had spotted Gary Ingham off his line.

Gary Marrow was without the unavailable Steve Woolford and the injured Richard Tracey, although Matt Daly had shrugged off a bout of flu. However, Simon Collins made a welcome return in midfield in place of Woolford whilst Luke Smith came in as a substitute.

On a difficult pitch the home side were first to show with Steve Taylor testing Gary Ingham from 20 yards after just four minutes but Ingham was equal to the shot. Wael Nazha went close for Frickley two minutes later when Andy Evans chested the ball down to him some 30 yards out but his effort flew wide of the right hand post. Shortly afterwards Nazha went close again when his close range shot deflected agonisingly wide of the left hand post following a good run and cross from lee Pugh down the right. Nazha was prepared to shoot on sight and did so just before the quarter hour mark but fired over from the edge of the box after receiving a ball from Neil Ashley. On 28 minutes it was Matlock's turn to go close as Kris Bowler's 25 yard free-kick was deflected inches wide of Ingham's right hand post with Ingham at full stretch. Two minutes later a good one two on the egde of the Frickley box saw Simon Barraclough clear but he fired his angled shot into the side netting. Matlock 'keeper Bowling was then accidentally caught by Leroy Chambers as he chased a through ball which Bowling got to fractionally before him and the game was held up for seven minutes as Bowling received treatment and was then replaced in goal by Rocky White. However, five minutes after the game restarted Bowling returned but he could do nothing to prevent Frickley taking the lead in the fifth minute of stoppage time. A Frickley attacked looked to have broken down but as the ball was cleared as far as Collins just inside the Matlock half, Collins returned it first time into space for NAZHA to rifle an 18 yard shot past Bowling and into the roof of the net.

Matlock replaced Bowling with Riley at half time with White again going in goal. Within sixty seconds of the restart Chambers tried his luck from 25 yards but his shot dipped just over the bar and then on 54 minutes Calum Selby's left wing corner struck the defender guarding the near post and ricocheted off the post and out for a another corner. But, six minutes later Matlock drew level. Ashley gave the ball away cheaply in midfield, allowing Bowler to collect the ball, look up and spot Ingham off his line before firing in a lofted shot from almost 45 yards which the back-pedalling Ingham could only push into the roof of the net. This spurred the home side on and they looked a more dangerous side for the remainder of the match, although, at the other end, Nazha had the next chance on 75 minutes when he beat a defender before shooting from a tight angle but White did well to parry the shot. Matlock came close to winning it with just 4 minutes left but Taylor's 18 yard shot came back off the post, struck Ingham on the back and rolled just wide of the post for a corner.