Lichfield City FC’s season got off to an entertaining start as they shared the spoils in a ten goal derby thriller at Heath Hayes.

Dave Langston’s men started brightly on the road and took the lead with just ten minutes on the clock as Jordan Evans let fly with a 25-yard effort that found the top corner.

City’s lead should have been doubled not long after as Daniel Griffiths saw his close range effort kept out.

It was a miss they were left to rue as ten minutes before the break Heath Hayes found a leveller from Mitch Teece.

The first half gave few indicators of what was in store for the second half which sparked into life in the opening minutes as the home side went in front for the first time, Regan Smith’s long range effort deceiving the Lichfield keeper.

And things got worse just a minute later as Jack Weldon headed home.

Lichfield didn’t wait long to reply though as straight from the kick off they went up the other end and found Craig Marshall in a position to rifle home from 18 yards.

An astonishing five minutes of play saw City pull the score back to 3-3 as Marshall bagged his second with a 20-yard free-kick.

The goals showed no signs of drying up as Heath Hayes went in front once more as Smith netted a second with little over an hour played.

Griffiths went close to another Lichfield leveller before it finally came with ten minutes on the clock. Marshall’s hat-trick came after a slick move resulted in a thumping header.

With the scores at 4-4 both sides could have been forgiven for settling for a point in the final moments, but it wasn’t to be as Marshall bagged a fourth with a header with just four minutes to go.

The drama wasn’t over though as a topsy-turvy local derby ended 5-5 as debutant Jake Elcock saw a clearance ricochet off Heath Hayes’ Jake Humphries and into the net.

Founder of Lichfield Live and editor of the site.