A tired and under-powered performance saw the Lilywhites crash out against an energetic and enterprising Matlock team, who despite poor form in the Unibond Premier, were more than a match for City.

City started slowly and in truth, didn’t really move through the gears until the final quarter when a succession of attacks yielded no end result. If the form book was to believed, City should have won this at a canter, Matlock languishing in 19th spot in their division. However, the Gladiators looked sharp from the off, Zac Barrett to be thanked for keeping his team in the game when he tipped Liam King’s fine effort away on 9 minutes and later, clawing away Simon Sturdy’s header on 16 when the defender’s powerful header looked certain to find the net.

On 33 minutes, it was the post, not Barrett who saved City. Ross Hannah pursued a through ball, and despite the close attentions of Laurie Stewart stayed on his feet when other players might have sought a penalty. Poking the ball past the advancing Barrett, a goal looked inevitable – only for the ball the thud against the foot of the right hand post and away to safety.

Meanwhile, what were City offering? Before the game, manager Gary Roberts had demanded his team give reserve keeper Nick Buxton a severe testing, but when it came to it, the City attack could not have been more accommodating as the keeper was barely asked to save a shot in anger in the first 45 minutes.

There were half chances – a scrambled effort on 11 minutes from an Adie Cambridge free kick – but nothing that put Buxton or his team under any real pressure.

When the half-time whistle went, it was City who were the more relieved to regroup. And regroup they did, thanks to two substitutions that saw Steve Gentle withdrawn with an ankle injury and replaced by Dave Theobald and Ashley Fuller, unable to recapture the sparkling form of last week, make way for  Neil Midgley, who partnered John Frendo in attack.

Lee Chaffey moved to left back, Theobald to the centre of defence and James Krause pushed up wide on the left to give City a new look as the second half began. It may have looked different, but the result was the same: a low wattage performance that didn’t come to life until too late in the game.

Midgley was presented with City best chance on 55 minutes after Krause had gone wide down the left, crossed to Frendo who set up the substitute who blazed way over from close range.  Five minutes later Stewart headed wide from a corner and on 71 Burke had a decent penalty shout turned down when his shot appeared to hit James Lukic on the arm. Better pressure from City, but Buxton had still not been called upon often enough.

What sparked City was conceding a relatively soft goal on 65 when Gareth Davies’ free-kick from 25 yards beat the wall and crept in at Barrett’s near post. It might have been that the defence were expecting a cross or that the wall broke or that Barrett was caught out of position – but the result was the same: a goal down and not enough fire power to do much about it.

True, City poured forward, free-kicks and corners rained in, but with no end product. The Lilywhite’s cause wasn’t helped by injuries to Steve Gentle and later Matt Haniver who was replaced by Tom Pepper on the hour after the full-back pulled up with a hamstring injury. And Lee Chaffey limped through the final thirty minutes when a seat on the bench would have suited him had all the substitutes not been used.

The final minutes saw Barrett race up-field to add bodies in the box to a Cambridge corner and right on the whistle, Chaffey went down in the area. No penalty, said Mr Ellis and after six minutes of time added on, blew for full-time.

City can’t complain at the result of a game that they never really imposed themselves upon. Too many players had bad days and the chore of breaking down a deep-laying defence proved too much. Credit to the visitors: they came to Milton Road full of energy and enterprise and took on a side that is notoriously hard to beat at home and did just that.

The Lilywhite’s squad will be tested to the full with the news that according to Roberts Steve Gentle is likely to absent for a fortnight, while Matt Haniver will be out for three. Lee Chaffey is to be assessed, but is likely also to miss matches.

As they say: time to concentrate on the league…