Havin a ball

The game started a little scrappily, and I maybe took David’s pre-match warnings about the physicality of Redcar too much to heart, earning an early Green card for a challenge that didn’t involve much stick.

Nevertheless we started to settle down, and a flowing passing move landed at the feet of SVV who slotted home a maiden NHC goal.

3 first half goals followed as we asserted our dominance, with Neil securing an early hat trick (and leaving those of us who didn’t have him in fantasy silently fuming). Still, for the second week in a row the half-time vibe was more disappointment that we could be playing better rather than complacency about the score.

As the second half got underway, we looked generally solid, but still needed Calum to produce a couple of outstanding saves to deny Redcar.

Second half goals from Joel, Keith and Neil (the latter a sweeping move from back to front with Luke picking out SVV, who immediately fed Neil to score) rounded out a comfortable victory.

There was still time for a moment of controversy, with a suggestion (strenuously denied) that David “Vinnie Jones” may have taken more than one kind of ball when tackling robustly. No VAR footage was available to confirm or deny.

Overall, though, a third 7-0 win on the bounce as the 2s set down an early marker, but once again with a feeling that there is a lot more to come from this side.

Match report: Alex Robinson