It has been almost a month since the last home match as the Family Only Stadium last saw action on Boxing Day.
Three goals, three points, three different goal scorers, a red card and a penalty saved, what a game It was.
Lineup: King ©, Betts, Hartmann, Walters, Cotterill, Bucci, Davidson-Miller (Duncan, 78’), Keane, Garnett, Thompson-Matthews, Taylor. UNUSED SUBS: Hanson, Atwal, Finnerty.
The visitors won a penalty in the first minute of the game.
Lewis King was late to the ball and gave the penalty away, but he did well to make up for the mistake as he made a terrific diving save to deny Bruno Andrade.
Following the penalty save, the Blues dominated the possession.
Tristan Thompson-Matthews had a ranged effort saved well by Dan Jezeph in the 25th minute.
Long Eaton United took the lead in the 32nd minute through Jahvan Davidson-Miller.
Dexter Walters pulled off a sublime back-heel for Betts down the right-hand side. The later played a beautiful ball into the box and Jahvan slid the ball into the bottom left corner at the back post.
Eight minutes later, we had our second.
King’s diagonal ball found Elliot Hartmann on the left-hand side. Hartmann did well to bring it down and beat his man. He continued his run inwards and got a shot away and found the bottom left corner. It was a stunning way to score your first goal for the club.
We entered the break 2-0 and full of momentum.
The second half started brightly for us as we continued to dominate the game.
However, in the 68th minute, Diamond’s striker Andrade halved the deficit with a good goal.
Our first goal scorer was replaced by Coden Duncan in the 78th minute.
The game was sealed with three minutes left of regular time left as Thompson-Matthews found the goal.
After a quick game of pinball with Thompson-Matthews and the Diamond’s defense, Tristan found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper. After staying cool and composed, he slotted the ball into the bottom left corner.
The action was not over as the final few minutes saw many cards being given.
One of the cards was red and it was awarded to Gianluca Bucci. After a scuffle on the floor with a Diamond’s player, Bucci saw a straight red and parted the field in the 90th minute.
James Taylor received a yellow card for a late challenge.
The full-time whistle blew with the Blues securing all three points.
The win takes us to sixth in the league.
Our next match is against Rugby Borough on Tuesday 27 at the Family Only Stadium.