We kicked off a little after 10:30 and the sun was beating down. We had just the bare 11 including Chiv, who was playing via special arrangement, and it was way too hot to be playing football. It was an even start to the game and Adam got an early touch of the ball as it was sent forward too long. We played a few good passes but didn’t create any opportunities. Although Chiv did stop one with his nuts.
It didn’t take long for the deadlock to be broken, just 9 minutes. Tuxford broke down our attack and cleared to halfway. Ryan returned the clearance back over the Tuxford defence, Foxy got in behind, latched on to it and chipped the keeper from about 15yards. The home team went close from a breakaway, the shot came in early and with power but Adam pushed it away for a corner. Tuxford got away again on 15 minutes but this shot came back off the post. We increased our lead on 23 minutes when Jack chased down a through ball, the defender got there first but the ball fell kindly for Moo. He pushed it forward for Foxy who hit a crisp finish off the underside of the crossbar. It was a Foxy hat-trick 6 minutes later, Dom’s throw-in, on this narrow pitch, bounced in the six-yard box and Chris headed it over the keeper. Moo almost made it 4, he hit one from wide on the right with the keeper off his line but it was just into the side netting. 3 minutes before the break, Tuxford played a long through ball, Zac tried to shepherd it out of play but it slowed down and Tuxford stole it. We had to concede a corner and from that Tuxford managed to hit the post again. Raffy cut inside and fired a belter of a shot on the stroke of halftime. The keeper blocked it but we were too slow to get to the rebound. So it was 3-0 at the break.
We began the 2nd half in total control of the game and 7 minutes in it was 4-0. Some good short passing between Chiv and Cory on the right wing to get the ball into the Tuxford half. Moo chipped the ball forward, Jack flicked it on and Chiv who had continued his run, collected the ball just ahead of the defender, a great first touch and as the ball came back up off the floor he hit it over the keeper from over 30 yards. Sam doesn’t score many, so he’ll remember this one for a long, long time. We were 5-0 up just 2 minutes later. Dom’s long throw went in off a defender.
Brad sent Raffy away up the left wing, he had destroyed the Tuxford right back all game with his pace. He got to the edge of the box but shot wide as the goalie narrowed the angle. Moo swung a corner over on 64 and Dom met it with a superb header that was batted away by the keeper. A minute later it was six. Elliot won the ball deep in our half and played it short to Chiv. He chipped the ball forward to Raffy who set off like a greyhound. He cut inside to the edge of the area again and this time he his past the advancing goalkeeper nestled in the corner.
To be fair to Tuxford, they were nowhere near as bad as we had been led to believe. They have got a few good players and they certainly created some scoring chances and in the 70th minute they got on the scoresheet. They never let their heads drop and we were messing around with too many fiddly little passes deep in our half. Their striker nipped in and stole the ball, but it was controlled with his arm. We hesitated but the free-kick wasn’t given and he stuck the ball wide of Adam. Maybe we should have had a free-kick but if we had cleared earlier we would have kept a clean sheet. The mood of the Manor team looked to have changed, the seemed a little annoyed and we won the ball back straight from the kick-off. Wraggy got the chance to run down the wing. His cracking cross was met by Foxy at full stretch but his header was high. Since finding the net Tuxford had gained in confidence and a crisp shot from the edge of the box was turned away brilliantly by Adam. With 2 minutes to go Wraggy won the ball in his own area and started a fantastic end to end run which deserved a goal but the shot went wide. In the final minute, Moo sent Foxy clear of the defence, he went around the keeper and tapped into the open net for a final score of Tuxford 1 Manor 7.
It was a good display with some great performances, Dom and Raffy were strong in their positions, Foxy scored 4 but when I mentioned Man of the Match in the team talk at the end, every player said “Chiv!” He had controlled the midfield, won loads in the air and topped it off with a stunning goal and the Man of the Match award.
