A great start saw us go ahead in only the 2nd minute of the game at home to Mansfield Athletic. Dom’s long throw sent Foxy clear, his shot was pushed away by the keeper to Simon who just tapped the ball in to make it 1-0. We then started to dominate play, particularly in midfield with Dom winning the aerial battle and supplying some superb passes and Corie Pridmore tirelessly running through the Mansfield team at every opportunity. It was one such run that saw Corie battle his way into the box and fire home to make it 2-0 on 11 minutes. It was Corie again on 24 minutes, a left foot shot into an unguarded net after Foxy had latched onto a great pass from Dom.
Athletic kept battling and got a goal back on 33 minutes, a cross from the right found their left winger unmarked and his shot was tucked away very well. Then with seconds to go to half-time, a superb cross from Zac on the left was missed by the keeper. The defender won the race to the ball but inexplicably blasted it against Cory Moody’s legs and it nestled in the back of the net. 4-1 at the interval.
Mansfield’s half time team talk must have been a good one as they were much improved in the 2nd half pulling another goal back on 45 minutes. A free-kick was pumped high to the far post. Adam made the save but couldn’t hold on to the ball, it bounced around in the area for a few seconds before being struck in.
We lost a little bit of momentum following a couple of substitutions and realised that with Dom on the sidelines we no longer had control of the game. Mansfield were threatening to make a game of it and put some pressure on our defence and goal without getting too close to scoring. When Dom was re-introduced the game began to swing our way once again, but it wasn’t until the 71st minute when we put the result beyond doubt, with Corie completing his hat-trick. Four minutes later and it was 6-2, another defence splitting pass from Dom to Simon’s feet and Simon finished smartly as the defence closed in.
There were good performances from several players, Brad, Ryan and Foxy in particular but the Man of the Match award was shared between the two players whose names are all over this report. The captain and the Dom-inator. Both were outstanding. Corie got the hat-trick but Dom pulled the strings. Later in the day Corie said “There is no way I would have got a hat-trick without Dom being there”
