HALESOWEN bounced back from a disappointing draw with St Neots Town last week to make it into the next round of the FA Cup.

Goals from James Roberts and Lee Hughes made all the difference as Yeltz claimed a 2-1 victory at former league rivals Matlock Town.

Assistant manager Matt Clarke admitted a “few choice words” were said in the dressing room after the St Neots match and called for his players to turn around their fortunes.

And he got his wish as Town took the lead against Matlock after just seven minutes.

The home side pulled level through a penalty, but Hughes put Halesowen back in front on 70 minutes, with the visitors holding out to set up a second round qualifying tie at home to Gainsborough Trinity.

Clarke said: “The first thing you want when a draw is made is to be the home side. We have that, but we know how tough Gainsborough will be as they are top of their league.

“We will need to play better than we did against Matlock. To be fair we created chances but we missed a whole host of them. We should have been home and dry by half time but we let them back into it.

“But give the lads their dues, they dug in and Lee Hughes came to the rescue.”

Before the FA Cup tie, Halesowen host Kings Lynn Town on Saturday at the Grove (3pm kick-off).

“We’re probably playing them at the wrong time because they sacked their manager after they drew in the cup,” Clarke said. “Then they go and win 7-0 in the replay on Tuesday night, so they are going to be well up for it.

“But they do have to come to us and we’re still unbeaten at home, so we will be looking to maintain that run.”

He added: “We just want to be better and improve game by game, and hopefully Matlock was the start.”