Nick Matthews scored for Ossett Albion. Picture: Adam Hirst
Ossett Albion beat Mark Hume’s Matlock Town 1-0 in their first home pre-season friendly match.
A workman-like performance from an Albion team that looked well-balanced saw them beat Matlock Town from the Evo Stik Premier division, a league above Albion.
Once Albion got going they began to pose problems for the Matlock defence and a through ball from Rob Bordman was missed by a defender and found Nicky Matthews who ran on to beat the goalkeeper.
This was in the 25th minute and a couple of minutes later Albion could have doubled their lead. Nicky Matthews made a run down the left and crossed but Eddy Birch could not rise high enough to place his header on target.
A torrential downpour during the half-time interval and continuing showers in the second half didn’t help the teams to produce entertaining football.
Matlock had a couple of chances to get on level terms, but one shot went wide and the other was smartly saved by Chris Barrow who was Albion’s goalkeeper for the second half.
Substitutions in the second half didn’t affect Albion’s play and they continued to look the better side and Rob Bordman had a chance inside the penalty area to extend the lead.
Unfortunately he wasn’t able to make the most of the opportunity and the ball was cleared.
Ossett Albion: Souter (Barrow), Dawson, Thompson, Jones, Milnes, South, G.Bojang (Smith), Birch, Muller (Hoyle), Matthews (Redfearn), Bordman.