We start this match report with a well done to the crowd, players and officials who gave Martin Dexter a fitting sending off with a superb 1 minute clapping tribute. Martin, you would have loved this game as both teams gave it there all, that had Ref Ryan Goddard needing eyes in the back of head. Luckily, he had the excellent Rick Greenwood and Michael Cornes (aka Cornsie) working as a team on the line.

Big shout out to Cornsie who won the banter competition against the Ellistown home crowd. In fact, on a difficult weekend, all three officials came out of this game with credit. Martin would have been proud of them.

As the final score suggests, this game was a hum dinger from kick-off to final whistle with Ellistown FC young chargers coming out on top in a 5 goal thriller.

For Town, we can take great pride as we stood up to an excellent football team in Hathern and showed superb discipline throughout. A key learning from our defeat last time out v Sileby Town.

The game had an explosive start as on 10 mins Hathern's Dolton Taylor stroked home a 25 yard free kick that David Beckham would have been proud of.

EFC 0-1 HFC 10 mins

How would Ellistown react from the kick-off. Well they kicked-off, passed it through the Hathern midfield, sent the ball wide and the cross came in and an unmarked Sonny Sheasby slotted home.

EFC 1-1 HFC 11 mins

These two early goals turned the game in basketball as both teams attacked at will. This meant our back four of Kielan Thackeray, Taylor Baldwin, man of the match Omar Bandeh and Captain, Leader, Legend Chris Sykes had to be on there toes to protect keeper Kyle Warren.

We are competing in midfield and our front 2 of Sonny Sheasby and Jack Bonell were causing problems up front.

The third goal of the game came on 20 mins, when Hathern finally breached our back four allowing Jake Davies to fire home from just inside the box.

EFC 1-2 HFC 20 mins

That goal could have knocked the stuffing out of Town but no, the lads seem to grow an extra 10%, toughen up and worked as a team as we got back into the game through superb pass and move football.

We equalised again on 30 mins, when Liam Watts slotted home from close range.

EFC 2-2 HFC 30 mins

You could see the team where determined not to concede again as we tighten up at the back and started to win the midfield battles with Matthew Hart pulling the strings and supported by Ruben Wilson, Luke Allsop and Liam Watts. The lads were enjoying this game, cheered on the Ellistown massive from the sides.

We took the lead on 38 mins when Taylor Baldwin tore down the left wing and crossed from the byline. The ball seemed destined for the safe arms of the Hathern goalkeeper who treated the ball like a bar of soap as it went under his body and into back of the net. A bit of luck our lads deserved.

EFC 3-2 HFC 38 mins

Hathern were shell shocked as Ellistown got their rewards for not giving in and matching the away team tackle for tackle.

Half-time whistle went with everyone agreeing that was a special half of football.

EFC 3-2 HFC HT

With an enforced change at half-time that resulted in 16 year old Conor Leighton coming on for Chris Sykes, how would Ellistown manage the expected onslaught from Hathern.

Credit to Conor, he played like a seasoned pro and worked well with his other central defender Omar Bandeh to keep Hathern at bay. Conor you should be proud of your performance.

The 2nd half was more of an arm wrestle as both teams tighten up at the back and this allowed Town to show how quickly they have learnt. We suffocated Hathern, never let them settle and won majority of the 50/50 tackles. This frustrated Hathern so much that their substitute was shown a straight red card.

While Hathern had most of the ball, they could not break down the Ellistown defence as we defended from the front. This allowed Town to counter attack and we had a couple of promising situations to put the game the bed but great defending and over-hit final balls kept Hathern in the game.

As the clock moved closer to 90 mins, we camped on our 18 yard line and only a world class Kyle Warren saved stopped Hathern equalising.

Like all experienced sides do, we tried every trick in the book to slow the game down and we tested the Ref's patience who correctly issued one yellow card for time wasting. This is the nasty stuff that you have to do to win a game.

The final whistle went with Ellistown celebrating a superb victory over a very good Hathern side.

EFC 3-2 HFC FT

Summary

Well done everyone connected to Ellistown, the committee, volunteers, supporters, management team and the players on a hard fought victory. Behind the scenes it's been a tough month that we are coming through and on the pitch you can see this young team improving with every minute.

Hathern are a class outfit and thank you for leaving the changing room spotless.

Next week we play free scoring Magna 73 at home in what will be another hum-dinger. Meanwhile enjoy your bank holiday and see you next Saturday.