The Gladiators host Chesterfield in the Banner Jones Cup at Causeway Lane on Friday night, quickly followed by a trip to UniBond First Division South Carlton Town on Saturday afternoon.

Those two games come in the wake of last night's visit of Premiership Blackburn Rovers in former skipper James Lukic's testimonial match, which Hannah missed as he was away on holiday.

Despite the tightly-packed schedule, Matlock joint-manager Phil Brown is content with the pre-season timetable.

"The Blackburn game was Lukey's night and the chance for us all to show our appreciation for the outstanding contribution he made to Matlock Town," he said.

"And we have to play the Chesterfield game for financial reasons for we usually get a good crowd in for that one, and it's a game that both sets of fans look forward to.

"The Carlton game was arranged before Chesterfield confirmed the date for their visit and in fact it is a good game to have.

"It's a decent pre-season and we're pleased to have games against three UniBond League Division One South clubs as they'll represent a realistic challenge for us ahead of the new season."

While Hannah offers promise for the future, Dene Cropper, beset by injury again last season, has already reminded Gladiators fans what he can do with a first half hat-trick against Staveley MW last Saturday.

"Cropps came back to training looking fit to start with and he's trained and worked really hard since and appears to be having no ill effects," said Brown.

"He's looking strong and hungry and that can only be good for the club, and we're hoping things stay that way for him.

"Having him, Simon (Barraclough) and Ross is a nice headache to have and something we didn't really have last year."

Paul Riley's injured knee is responding well, although Brown is still unclear as to when one of last season's most consistent performers will return.

Attempts by Brown and management partner Gareth Williams to tempt Ian Holmes back to Matlock last week were scuppered when big-spending Eastwood Town landed the 2006/07 UniBond Premier Division's leading scorer.

In spite of that knock-back, it has been an otherwise fruitful summer in the transfer market, and Brown urged more people to back the club either by coming through the turnstiles to watch or to invest in what he calls a "community club".

"We've signed some excellent young players and I'd like to thank the management committee for supporting us so well," he said.

"A lot of clubs have paid lots of money and it keeps getting more difficult to compete with them and keep the football club running.

"But there's a lot of excellent people working hard behind the scenes, and the club is very much a community club with the new community use stand planned for later this year and the junior and reserve sides, which give local youngsters a chance of developing their talent and playing in the first team of their local club.