Margy demands more discipline ahead of Matlock trip

FC United look to build on last weekend’s 3-0 win over Frickley when we travel to Matlock Town on Saturday afternoon and manager Karl Marginson has called for better discipline from his squad.

Club captain Dean Stott is expected to be available after missing last week’s match with a hamstring strain whilst goalkeeper James Spencer (back), midfielder Chris Worsley (knee), and centre-back Amjad Iqbal (groin strain and chest infection) continue to make progress on their roads to recovery.

Full-back Lee Neville and striker Michael Norton are both unavailable as they begin three and four match suspensions, respectively, for being set off in the FA Trophy against Witton Albion.

With that in, manager Karl Marginson explained that he has started a fresh approach to clamping down on poor discipline. "We’ve talked a lot with the players about it, particularly about not getting involved in situations that they don’t need to be involved in.

"Also about making sure they’re not caught out of position, so that they don’t have to make desperate challenges. But, without saying the time for talk is done, we’ve been talking about it for a long time and now we’ve decided to introduce fines."

Margy continued: "It’s not what you want to do but the players need to realise that their actions on the pitch effect the club and our aims. I’ll judge red cards on a case by case basis and then decided, fairly, whether it deserves a fine."

Going off league standings and previous encounters, the fixture looks evenly matched with the potential to go either way. The Gladiators are currently in eighth position, three points ahead of the Reds and in previous meetings between the two clubs, both teams have won four and drawn two with 20 goals apiece.

FC United always get a warm welcome at Causeway Lane and we’ll be looking forward to more of the same tomorrow, hopefully with three points thrown into the bargain too. Get yourself to that football ground.