Matlock Town 5–1 Nuneaton Town

FA Trophy | Match Report

Attendance: 519

What started as a rainy afternoon in Matlock had developed into a murky, grey and cloud-covered day by kick-off — thankfully, though, the rain had stayed away.

It was my first visit to Matlock Town, and I was looking forward to what promised to be an intriguing FA Trophy clash.

Little did I know we were about to witness six goals, a brace from Connor Washington and an impressive attacking display from the hosts.

2’ — GOAL! Nuneaton Town 1–0

Nuneaton made the perfect start.

The opening few minutes had been a typical feeling-out process, but the visitors won themselves a free-kick and delivered the ball into the Matlock box.

Nuneaton number 7 Stuart Hendrie was first to the ball, got a shot away and found the back of the net.

1–0 Nuneaton.

An excellent start for the visitors — and a huge early wake-up call for Matlock.

Both sides were already looking to attack down the flanks, meaning the full-backs on both teams were going to have a busy afternoon.

5’ — GOAL! Matlock Town 1–1

Matlock responded almost immediately.

Again, the attack came down the left. Connor Washington did brilliantly to deliver the ball across towards the attacker arriving from the right.

The ball was played into Matlock’s No.10 Zak Goodson, who cut inside before firing a shot towards the goalkeeper’s near post.

It beat the keeper.

1–1. Game on.

14’ — Midfield battle

As I grabbed some food and continued watching the action, the match had become increasingly scrappy.

Both midfields were battling hard to gain control of the ball, while Connor Washington was already showing his quality whenever Matlock looked to move forward or play into him.

Both teams were trying to attack down the flanks and were regularly getting into the final third, but either the defence was dealing with the danger or the final ball wasn’t quite good enough.

The Nuneaton fans had travelled well and their voices were being heard around the ground. Their support was certainly going to help their players continue to have a go at Matlock.

17’ — GOAL! Matlock Town 2–1

Matlock turned the game around.

Jed Abbey produced a fantastic finish, curling the ball beyond the Nuneaton goalkeeper with his left foot from the right-hand side.

Once again, though, Connor Washington played a huge part.

His control and physical strength allowed him to fend off the defender before delivering a dangerous cross across the Nuneaton box.

It found Jed Abbey.

He did the rest.

Matlock 2–1 Nuneaton.

Nuneaton were struggling to sustain attacks, although they were having some success down their right.

Their No.9 Terry Atem was involved in an interesting battle with Matlock’s No.6 Max Asante-Boakye, and Nuneaton needed to find a way to exploit that matchup and get in behind.

21’ — Nuneaton controlling possession

Nuneaton were struggling to create sustained attacks, but they were controlling possession well.

Matlock were happy to sit back, wait for a mistake and then counter quickly — with the obvious intention of finding Connor Washington.

27’ — Matlock looking dangerous

Despite Nuneaton having plenty of the ball, Matlock continued to look the more dangerous side.

Every mistake from Nuneaton was being punished, with Matlock quickly turning possession over into attacks.

They had already come close to adding another goal.

30’ — GOAL! Matlock Town 3–1

Jed Abbey doubled his tally from the penalty spot.

Nuneaton’s No.5 Aaron Roberts was caught in possession, allowing Matlock to win the ball and drive forward down the left.

The cross eventually found Connor Washington, who attempted to flick the ball around the Nuneaton defender.

The ball struck the defender’s hand.

Penalty.

Jed Abbey stepped up and calmly converted.

Matlock 3–1 Nuneaton.

Nuneaton now had a huge hill to climb.

Their best route back into the game continued to look like the right flank, where they had enjoyed some success. More pressure down that side could potentially unlock the Matlock defence.

At the other end, Nuneaton’s defence needed to find a way of dealing with Connor Washington and Jed Abbey. The pair were regularly using their physical strength to beat defenders and turn situations into dangerous attacks.

36’ — Referee receives treatment

A brief unusual moment as the referee went down and required treatment.

Let’s hope he was okay — or perhaps he was just giving both teams a little breather!

40’ — Matlock comfortable

The game had returned to being somewhat scrappy.

Matlock were clearly happy with their advantage and looked keen to take the 3–1 lead into half-time.

41’ — Nuneaton attack

Nuneaton once again attacked down the right and were successful in getting forward.

Their pressure resulted in a free-kick from a similar position to the one that had produced their opening goal.

Could they find a way back into the match?

41’ — GOAL! Matlock Town 4–1

No.

Instead, Matlock hit Nuneaton with a devastating counter-attack.

Nuneaton’s free-kick was defended perfectly by Matlock, who immediately broke forward.

The hosts found themselves in a 2v1 situation.

Matlock’s No.2 Declan Eratt-Thompson drove towards the defender before playing the perfect ball into Connor Washington.

Washington took a touch and fired the ball past the Nuneaton goalkeeper at the near post.

4–1 Matlock.

It was a superb counter-attack from the hosts, although Nuneaton’s goalkeeper Finn Osborn will probably feel he should have done better. Being beaten at the near post is something goalkeepers will always want to avoid.

Nuneaton couldn’t afford to drop their heads.

Yes, it was 4–1, but if they stopped fighting, this could quickly become a cricket score.

Matlock Town 4-1 Nuneaton Town 

 HALF-TIME- Thoughts

Matlock — Half-time thoughts

Matlock started incredibly slowly, allowing Nuneaton to take an early lead.

Since then, however, they had dominated the game physically.

Almost everything dangerous going forward was involving Connor Washington, whose quality was making Matlock’s attacks extremely dangerous.

With three goals already scored after falling behind, I expected more goals in the second half.

Nuneaton — Half-time thoughts

Defensively, Nuneaton needed to improve.

They had shown that they could keep possession and build attacks, but they weren’t doing enough when they reached the final third.

Their biggest success had come down the right-hand side, so exploiting that area more consistently could create opportunities.

Most importantly, they needed to come out for the second half determined to fight.

SECOND HALF

Nuneaton made a few changes and started the second half with a real edge.

They clearly weren’t prepared to simply accept defeat.

48’ — Nuneaton fighting

Nuneaton were really up for the second half.

Even if they were ultimately going to lose, they wanted to lose with pride.

Once again, they attacked down the right and were creating opportunities in the opening moments of the half.

Matlock couldn’t afford to drop their level.

A goal for Nuneaton could completely change the momentum and give the visitors something to build on.

56’ — Matlock defend well

Not too much had happened since the restart.

Nuneaton had produced a few promising attacks, but Matlock were defending well.

One route-one ball caused confusion between the Nuneaton defender and goalkeeper, allowing Connor Washington to race onto the loose ball.

He controlled it quickly before unleashing a powerful shot — but this time the Nuneaton goalkeeper Finn Osborn produced an excellent save.

And once again, Washington showed exactly why he had been so impressive.

His touch, composure, physicality and overall quality were outstanding.

The former Championship player had been a joy to watch.

60’ — Matlock taking control

Matlock were now beginning to dominate proceedings.

They looked to be strolling towards victory while Nuneaton appeared to be running out of steam.

The Nuneaton faithful, however, continued to make themselves heard despite having very little to celebrate.

65’ — Matlock in control

Nothing major had changed.

Matlock continued to dominate and, if anyone was going to score again, it looked far more likely to be the hosts.

A quick word for the referee, too — he had controlled the game really well.

His decisions had been clear and, importantly, he wasn’t being fooled by unnecessary play-acting when players were looking for fouls.

80’ — Game drifting towards full-time

The match had become something of a non-event.

There had been some attacks and shots from both teams, but the overall quality had dropped considerably.

It was becoming increasingly obvious that Matlock were going to win and progress into the next round.

To Nuneaton’s credit, they continued to try and never completely gave up.

However, consecutive away games combined with facing a side from the division above meant Matlock were always likely to be the favourites.

Before kick-off, I predicted a 4–0 or 5–0 Matlock win.

With the score still 4–1, I was hoping for one more goal to make that prediction look pretty accurate!

84’ — Matlock still pushing

Matlock continued to dominate, but their attacking quality had dropped over the previous 20 minutes.

It’s something they’ll need to work on.

In tighter matches, the final 20 minutes can be crucial, and teams need to continue producing clear-cut chances and taking them.

Connor Washington was also desperately looking for his second goal of the afternoon, but Nuneaton’s goalkeeper had made several strong saves to keep the score at 4–1.

90’ — Comfortable Matlock victory

Matlock had enjoyed a very comfortable second half.

There had been little danger to their lead and they were now simply seeing the game out.

The hosts could start looking ahead to the next round.

But there was still time for one more moment.

92’ — GOAL! Matlock Town 5–1

Of course it was Connor Washington.

The man who had influenced almost everything Matlock had done going forward finally got his second goal.

Washington picked the ball up on the edge of the box, created the space and thumped a curling effort into the top corner.

A fantastic finish.

Matlock Town 5–1 Nuneaton Town.

And that was that.

FULL-TIME

Matlock Town 5–1 Nuneaton Town

Matlock breeze into the next round of the FA Trophy after a dominant attacking display.

FINAL ANALYSIS

Matlock Town

Matlock didn’t necessarily control possession and, surprisingly, I wouldn’t say they were the better footballing side in terms of keeping the ball.

But where they were far superior was in attack.

They were physically stronger, particularly in key areas, and repeatedly bullied the Nuneaton defence.

And everything attacking seemed to go through one man:

MOTM-Connor Washington

Washington was outstanding for the full 90 minutes.

His touch, strength, composure and ability to bring others into the game caused Nuneaton problems throughout.

He finished with two goals and was integral to Matlock progressing into the next round.

However, there are still areas for Matlock to improve.

A better attacking team could potentially expose their defence, so tightening things up at the back would make this Matlock side an even more formidable opponent in their league campaign.

Nuneaton Town

Nuneaton were surprisingly the better side when it came to possession.

They tried to build attacks and, at times, moved the ball around well.

The problem was that they didn’t seem to have a clear enough attacking plan when they reached the final third.

One area that repeatedly worked for them was the right-hand side.

They were able to get forward down that flank and, on several occasions, appeared to have the beating of Matlock’s left-back.

Had Nuneaton attacked that area more consistently, I believe they could have created more opportunities.

Ultimately, though, despite having plenty of possession, they simply didn’t do enough with the ball to seriously hurt Matlock.

Defensively, they also struggled to deal with the physical presence of Connor Washington and Jed Abbey, and that proved decisive.

THE VERDICT

A convincing 5–1 victory for Matlock Town sees them safely through to the next round of the FA Trophy.

Nuneaton can take some positives from their ability to retain possession and their success down the right, but Matlock’s superior attacking quality, physicality and clinical finishing ultimately made the difference.

For me, Connor Washington was the standout player on the pitch, while Jed Abbey’s two goals also played a huge role in securing the victory.

A thoroughly enjoyable first visit to Matlock — and a six-goal afternoon to remember.

Matlock Town 5–1 Nuneaton Town
Jed Abbey x2
Connor Washington x2
Zak Goodson
Stuart Hendrie (Nuneaton)

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