UniBond League

Matlock boss Mark Atkins remains confident that his Gladiators side can arrest their slide in form in 2010 which has seen them drop to third bottom in the UniBond Premier Division.

In a normal season, Matlock would be currently occupying one of the four relegation slots, but the pre season withdrawal of Newcastle Blue Star, followed by King's Lynn's demise in November has seen the UniBond top flight reduced to twenty clubs, meaning that just two teams will be relegated at the end of the campaign.

Looking on the black side, two more defeats, at home to Kendal Town on Saturday and at second bottom Ossett on Tuesday night, coupled with an Ossett home victory against still pointless bottom markers Durham City this weekend, would see the Gladiators in the bottom two. But Atkins is not thinking in these terms.

"I've said before that on our day we're a match for anyone in this division and I've seen nothing to alter my opinion" he insisted. "We have the players here capable of turning things back in our favour and I've every confidence that they will do just that."

Kendal arrive at Causeway Lane intent on reaching the UniBond Premier Division play offs for a second successive season. Last term they finished fifth before losing at Ilkeston Town in the semi final duel. They are currently in seventh spot but need to win their games in hand to maintain their challenge. The Gladiators will reflect that last season they drew both games against the Lake District side but Atkins says Matlock need to quickly return to winning ways.

"We need to get a win as soon as possible to stop this recent disappointing run" Atkins admitted. "But I have to say that all of those recent results don't reflect our performances. A win on Saturday would give us some confidence going in to the next games. Kendal are a very good side who pass the ball well and have plenty of movement up front, so it'll be a tricky game. But we know what we're capable of. We'll be looking for the three points from a tough fixture but we have to look after ourselves by doing the right things and hopefully then getting the result we want."

Atkins feels he has identified the main reason why there has been a recent dip in results.

"I think we've been a bit off the pace defensively and by that I just don't mean the back four. We've been a yard or so off opponents and given them too much time on the ball which in turn has meant that they've had the opportunity to hurt us a little more with the quality of the ball played in against us. So we've been working this week on closing opponents down more effectively."

While the Gladiators chief likes to take one game at a time, he admitted that Tuesday's visit to Ingfield to face Ossett is "massive". The Yorkshire side have the "Indian sign" over Matlock having beaten them in each of the last six meetings, including a last gasp 1-0 verdict at Causeway Lane in September.

"At present they're a place below us so it's a massive game and probably our biggest game of the season but we have to take care of Saturday first. They've had a great run against us in the last two or three seasons but runs are there to be broken. We're not going to go into any game looking for just a point, we're going to go for all three in every game we play as we reckon we've got the front players who can get the goals we need. I've seen just about every team in this league during the last couple of years and there's not much difference in them from last season to this.Ossett will probably be more in our faces than Kendal given their home advantage with the pitch and so forth to make life as uncomfortable as they can for us, but we need to be ready for each and every challenge that's put before us."

Matlock will be without suspended duo James Lukic and Ben Algar on Saturday but Atkins has no other doubts. Lukic will be available for the Ossett clash but Algar misses both games plus next weekend's visit of Durham City.

Last weekend's late postponement at Ashton United has delayed Lukic's ban and has also frustrated Atkins.

"At 11 am the match was on so you go up there with the mindset of playing. We wanted to play as we're behind with our games but when we arrived there was no chance of the game being on. The frost was still hard and it was right to call the game off."

The trip to Hurst Cross has now been rearranged for Monday 1 March with the Gladiators now in action on most midweeks between now and the end of the season.

Atkins' hopes of adding a Conference North player to his squad were thwarted, but he still has a couple of other irons in the fire.

"I wanted to get a lad in on loan but his club picked up three injuries last Saturday so he's needed there. But I've identified two more players I'd like to bring in to help us because we're short on numbers at the present time. I'm aware that we've got a tight budget so a lot depends on whether we can get the funds together to bring them in. If we can all well and good. If not, we'll go with what we've got and I'm still confident we can get these wins."

Atkins had arranged a behind closed doors friendly with at Ilkeston on Tuesday night, but prolonged rainfall led to the match being called off.

Ian Richardson.