Staveley MW 4 v Long Eaton United 1 - CMFL Reserves Supreme Division

Thursday 16th August 2012, at Inkersall Road
Central Midlands League, Reserves Supreme Division
Aaron Moxam 20, 32, 72, Alex Torr 67
Staveley Miners Welfare (2) 4
Long Eaton United (0) 1
Shay Wiggins 87
Admission £2, Programme 50p, Attendance 60 ish
Ta very much to Ele Reaney for helping me to dot the i's and cross the t's tonight, much appreciated.
Staveley Miners Welfare: 
Sam West, Ross Goodwin, Lee Naughton, Dwayne Wiley, Luke Forgione, Kurtis Morley, Joe Thornton, Liam Royles, Chris Coy, Aaron Moxam, Alex Torr
Subs - Sam Finlaw, Andrew Cooper, Oli Byne
Long Eaton United:
Harry Daikin, Adam Johnson, Ethan Winfield, Lee Hitchcock, Joshua Watts, Matthew Jarvis, William Riley, Jason Hallam, Shay Wiggins, Mark Hosker, Elliot Perry,
Subs - Steven Fisher, Darryl Hawkins, Jamie Hawkins
Staveley, the reigning Central Midlands League, Reserves Supreme Division champions, pretty much kicked off their new campaign carrying on where they left off last season.
It's not as if Long Eaton were a bad side, in fact they're anything but, it was more a case of the home side being an absolute joy to watch tonight as they took residence in the visitors half of the pitch for the majority of the game.
On another night, if a few more of the multitude of chances they created would of gone in, they could've notched up double figures.
Before Long Eaton had registered their first effort on goal, when William Riley shot over the crossbar from distance just before the twenty minute mark, Staveley should've already been a couple of goals to the good, having hit the upright (Chris Coy), the crossbar (Joe Thornton), had an effort from Joe Thornton go narrowly over with Harry Daikin in the United goal well beaten and had been thwarted from close range when the visitors keeper bravely smothered the ball at Alex Torr's feet.
Thornton, making his presence felt again, knocked a cross cum shot into the visitors area on twenty minutes and Aaron Moxam was on hand to steer it into the net, to give Staveley a lead that had been on the cards for a while now.
Moxam and Kurtis Morley combined well as the Long Eaton defence was unlocked yet again, but Coy had wandered into an offside position before finishing the move off and his goal was ruled out.
Alex Torr won the ball in the middle of the park and advance on Long Eaton's goal, but he fired narrowly wide from 30 yards out.
On 32 minutes, Aaron Moxam scored his and Staveley's second.
Daikin got down to block Moxam's original shot, but there was nobody on hand to clear the ball and with the visitors stopper ground the home side's lively number 10 got to the rebound first and rifled the ball into the back of the net.
Just before the break, Long Eaton registered another effort on goal, when Jason Hallam shot narrowly wide from 12 yards out.
With the home side still only sitting on a two goal lead, despite having had the bulk of possession and creating so many chances, Hallam's near miss served as a reminder to the Inkersall Road outfit that Long Eaton were still in the game ... though if truth be told, they probably weren't by now and with half time looming, the interval team talk would most likely be about implementing damage limitation tactics.
Half Time: Staveley MW 2 v Long Eaton United 0
Staveley's line up tonight, included a few players with first team experience and several of their current crop of Under 19's.
First team manager Billy Fox was watching from the sidelines and he must've been impressed with the performance and relentless work rate of the up and coming lads at the club.
If the ball left the Long Eaton half for the first 15 minutes of the second half, I must've blinked and missed it ... and in all honesty, if I went to the trouble of detailing all the goal scoring opportunities the home side were creating by now, you'd think I was making it up.
They were irresistible viewing, for our clique of football purists, for long spells ... and the visitors defence and goalkeeper Harry Daikin, deserve a lot of credit for keeping their rampant hosts at bay for so long, during a prolonged spell of action in and around their area.

Long Eaton's manager Wayne Riley's reaction to Staveley's fourth goal

On 67 minutes, United's rearguard finally buckled again, under intense pressure, as Liam Royles clever running and neat pass to Alex Torr, saw the Staveley winger score a third for the home side.

With Long Eaton now squarely on the back foot, Aaron Moxam went for his hat trick with a ferocious strike from 10 yards out, but the ball rattled against the post.
But on 72 minutes, Moxam netted his third, when he got a return pass on the edge of the area, that wrong footed his marker and the jubilant number 10 struck the ball past the overworked Harry Daikin, to give Staveley a four goal cushion.Once again, credit where it's due to Long Eaton, because although there were times that they had looked like being completely over run, they still knuckled down, kept their discipline and looked to finish the game on a high.
Matt Jarvis came close to pulling a late consolation goal back, when he curled the ball narrowly wide from just inside the area.
And right at the death, Shay Wiggins, battled gamely for a ball by the home sides goal line, twisted and turned past two defenders, used his upper body strength to make a yard of space and knocked the ball past Sam West, to make the final score: Staveley Miners Welfare 4 v Long Eaton United 1.
Maybe, with a little more luck in front of goal, the home side could've won by a much bigger margin tonight, but to be fair, although they had been pegged back in their own half for about 80% of the game, Long Eaton didn't really deserve to be on the end of a rout, in view of their tenacity and hard graft over the 90 minutes.
That said, if Staveley's second string can keep this level of performance up, they'll be unstoppable this season and must already be odds on favourites to keep a firm grasp on the championship trophy for another year.