Lichfield City FC’s reserves made Memorial Cup progress following a seven-goal thriller against Horninglow Reserves.

City opened the scoring on five minutes through Chris Ashley before Aaron Mahon doubled their advantage five minutes later. Two became three on twenty minutes when Ashley got his second of the game.

Horninglow dragged themselves back into the game and, after bagging two goals before the break, made it 3-3 early in the second-half.

This seemed to shock Paul Holt’s side into action though, and Ashley was on hand to complete his hat-trick to ensure their progress into the next round of the competition.

Holt said afterwards:

“I thought the lads battled really well and, apart from a twenty minute spell where we got complacent, we fully deserved the win against a very physical side who were trying to intimidate the younger players.

“Sean Emery was excellent as was young Ryan Simms. Ryan’s only 16 but, as with Sean, will be knocking on the first team door if he continues to perform like he did on Saturday.”

Next Saturday (November 7) Lichfield City Reserves travel to Ashbourne for a Pedigree League fixture.