....Premier League Premier Division club last Monday.

Four new signings made their debuts in last Saturday’s 3-0 home defeat to table-topping South Shields.

Since then six players have left the Proctor Cars Stadium with more player movement expected prior to this weekend’s league visit to Stalybridge Celtic. Matlock is then at home to Grantham Town on Tuesday night.

Former Gladiator Cleveland Taylor was the first through the welcome door, having been at Matlock towards the end of the 2016/17 season before he moved to Coalville Town just over a year ago. The 35-year-old has joined from Stamford.

Full-back Taron Hare has also arrived from the Zeeco Stadium having been with Frecklington previously at Gainsborough Trinity.

Midfielder Tom Davie was signed from Cleethorpes Town before the vastly experienced central defender Lee Beevers joined from King’s Lynn Town to complete the quartet of new arrivals.

“We needed experience, Lee and Cleveland have bags of that in both the Football League and non-League. The spine of the team needed attention. Taron and Tom have played for me before at Gainsborough in Conference North. They know how I work, and I know them, I trust them which is very important. They’re both at a good age, they’re young, hungry players,” said Frecklington.

With a good number of players watching from the stand last week, Frecklington said the squad needed to be reduced.

Loanees Dan Vann and Luke Rawson returned to their parent clubs of Walsall and Chesterfield respectively before Charlie Dawes, Jake Phillips, Jack Brownell and Jerry Nash were released.

“We needed to trim the squad, there’s far too many at present. You can only pick sixteen on a match day. Too many were sat in the stands and that’s unfair on the players more than anything as they need to be playing. We’ll be looking at a squad of around eighteen players, so there’ll be more going out than coming in. I hope to have one new addition in time for Saturday, maybe two but some will be going.”

Frecklington insists that Matlock’s top priority is still to improve defensively with them conceding an average of three goals per game in their opening seven matches. This was addressed as he supervised training for the first time on Tuesday night with assistants Terry Fleming and Chris Rawlinson. But Matlock has also not scored in their last three league outings and their goal against Halesowen Town came from a Shaun Harrad penalty.

“Results haven’t been good enough, we’re letting in too many goals so shutting that back door is the main priority. It was a very positive session on Tuesday. We held a meeting with the players beforehand, so they know the style of play for Saturday, it’s vital that everyone knows their jobs both individually and collectively. If anything, the training session was ten notches up from last Thursday, I was really impressed with what I saw. We’ll be looking at taking that into Thursday’s session and of course into the game at Stalybridge.”

Frecklington believes that Matlock lost to the probable league champions in South Shields, the game coming just a couple of days after his appointment.

“A betting man would have South Shields down to win the league, they’re a very good side. Beating them was always going to be a big ask so we now put that game to one side. The season starts now, Monday being our first official day with the club. I believe Stalybridge and Grantham to be winnable games and the aim is to establish a structure in the side with the necessary guidance from us so that we can start climbing the league quickly. We need to be looking for some clean sheets, then we can sort the other end out. If you can keep the back door shut, you’re always likely to have some chances at the other end. It’s important that confidence is restored both within the team and throughout the club.”

Matlock currently has four players on the treatment table in captain Adam Yates, midfielder Michael Williams, winger Jordan Chapell and striker Shaun Harrad.

“Those four were all down at training for treatment, they’re all really good players. They maybe could have some light training on Thursday, but none are likely to be ready for Stalybridge. It’ll be a tough game up there, it’s not long ago they were in Conference North. But I’m really excited about what we can do. We’ll be looking to go there and be hard to beat and try and get the three points,” Frecklington added.

Ian Richardson