....watching a soul-destroying 3-0 home defeat by Whitby Town in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League Premier Division on Tuesday night.

It was Town’s third successive defeat in which they have let in 10 goals. After being top of the table after the 4-0 opening day victory at home to Lancaster City, the Gladiators have taken just a solitary point out of a possible twelve to slide alarmingly into the relegation zone in third bottom spot.

Halesowen Town come to the Proctor Cars Stadium in the First Qualifying Round of the Emirates FA Cup on Saturday in a game Hoole describes as “absolutely massive” for the club.

Although injuries to key players Adam Yates, Jordan Chappell and Jamie Jackson have not helped the Gladiators’ cause Hoole rapped: “Yes I want those players fit and back with us but there are no excuses. It’s time for the players to grow up and take responsibility for the job they’re asked to do and do it for the fans, the club and themselves.”

Injury-hit Matlock had fought back well at Workington on Saturday to level 5 minutes into the second half through the outstanding Michael Williams, only to lose to two late goals.

Dwayne Wiley was missing after his two yellow cards in the draw at Scarborough brought about a suspension meaning Shaun Harrad reverting to a central defensive position, but an injury to Jackson saw him move up front with 17-year-old former academy defender Ashton Hall partnering 19-year-old Walsall loanee Dan Vann.

Seventeen-year-old Chesterfield loanee Luke Rawson also came on for his debut.

“Dan did very well at the back as did Ashton, Luke’s a young kid with great energy levels learning his trade and he’ll hopefully progress and show his true potential,” Hoole admitted. “We did well in the middle part of the game but again we were undone defensively.

“Looking at the goals we’ve conceded so far this season all have been gifts, no-one has scored from a well-worked move against us and that’s a massive concern. It was our defending again on Tuesday although this time we struggled to create anything. On the few occasions we got the ball down and passed we looked okay. In midfield, we’ve lost faith in our capabilities and it seems a hell of a long way since that first game of the season. At the moment we leak goals far too easily and not creating anything in the game is a big concern too. We’ll go again at training on Thursday and work on our defending again. We’ll be chatting to players individually and making them aware of what’s missing and what needs to improve before a massive game on Saturday. If we could have gone in at half time 0-0 against Whitby it might have been a different outcome, but we got done from a short corner. Shaun Harrad told the lads about this beforehand and how Whitby play them, but we got caught napping. In this league, if you lose concentration for a few seconds then you’re punished.”

There was much debate as to whether Wiley’s second sending-off of the season was justified when Junior Mondal went down as Wiley challenged him for Whitby’s second goal, converted from the penalty spot.

“I’m not sure it was the correct decision, Dwayne says he didn’t touch him. We’ve got caught though and he’s given the ref a decision to make. We’ll take a look at the decision again,” added Hoole, who also praised the Gladiators’ fans.

“I can’t fault the support, it’s fantastic. It’s a big shame we couldn’t give them the performance they deserved but mark my words we’ll be doing all we can to put things right.”

Cup opponents Halesowen moved to the Evo-Stik Southern League Premier Division Central in the summer after four seasons in the NPL. They currently occupy a bottom half position but have a far superior defensive record to Matlock and are likely to include former Football League strikers Lee Hughes and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake in their squad.

“Halesowen will be big and strong and after watching us on Tuesday will be up for it. We must be ready and up for the challenge, it’s an absolutely massive game and we need to get the right result.”

If a replay is needed it will be at Halesowen on Tuesday, otherwise Matlock will visit Basford United in the league on Monday, provided Basford do not draw with Staveley Miners Welfare in their FA Cup tie.

Ian Richardson