NEWTON Abbot Spurs were in seven heaven on Saturday, September 6, in what was a game to remember for manager Connor Marshall in his first season in charge.

Marshall labelled it “a really good day”, adding, “The scoreline tells the story. We did dominate today, we moved the ball perfectly, kept attacking and made so many chances.”

With all of that being said, the first chance of the game fell the way of visitors Axminster Town, a curling effort going just wide of Kane Gregory’s post.

Spurs certainly grew into the fixture and it took a little over 20 minutes for them to find the opener at The Rec.

Toby Pullman rode a challenge well before driving towards the box and sending a low cross to the far post, where fellow forward Chris Harvey was on hand to tap home his first goal for the club.

It had certainly been coming and one could quickly have become two or three had it not been for the strong goalkeeping from Axminster’s Ben Rich, something that became a theme of the afternoon.

Pullman was involved once again, dropping short to collect the back and then sliding Owen Green through on goal. The elusive winger beat Rich to the ball and was subsequently brought down, the referee pointing to the penalty spot.

The hosts had a golden opportunity to go 2-0 up but Pullman’s chipped effort was swatted away by Rich, prompting angry reactions from a few of his teammates.

What penalty miss? Tom Lobb’s perfect ball around the visitors’ defence picked out Pullman, who was able to swiftly atone for his earlier error, doubling the Spurs lead.

Less than 60 seconds later, Pullman had the ball in the back of the net again, only to be denied by the offside flag.

Marshall’s men led by two at the break but it could and should have been more, not to mention that Gregory was enjoying a quiet game at the other end of the field.

The man of the moment Toby Pullman got the ball rolling in the second 45. Fullback Calum Fyfe hung up a perfect cross to the back stick and with no defender in sight, Pullman headed home his second of the afternoon.

To the frustration of the Axminster players, the referee would then award a second penalty, this one being won by Pullman as he was pulled down in the area. Despite being on for a hat-trick, the earlier antics meant that he had to hand the ball over to Green who made no mistake in making it 4-0.

Lobb by name, lob by nature. Spurs skipper Lewis Breslan picked out one of the midfielder’s driving runs and Lobb was able to lift the ball over the oncoming ‘keeper for a fifth goal.

Substitute duo Kai Swann and Tom Holland forced Town’s number one into another pair of great saves, Marshall highlighting his impact after the game.

“Their ‘keeper had an outstanding game today, he kept a lot out and was spot on so fair play to him, he was their man of the match for sure.”

It was Toby Hard who broke the visitors’ resolve next though, having also come off of the bench. The young forward took advantage of the space afforded to him on the edge of the area, eventually firing into the bottom corner. He became the second player to open his account for Spurs on the day.

Finally, with the last kick of the game, centre-half Finn Pearse got in on the act. As a corner bounced through the crowd, he was on hand to poke home the seventh and final goal of an emphatic victory.

Marshall gave “credit to Axminster” but the focus is on Spurs after this one and rightly so.

“Three on the bounce now which is great and hopefully we can just keep going. It’s a long season though, things can go up and they can go down, I’m just excited to keep this momentum going.”

He’d have “bit your hand off” if you offered him this start of five league wins from six and “to be able to prove a lot of people wrong as well is great” too.

“To have the boys’ backing and the club’s backing has been brilliant and it’s all going well so far.”

Next up for Spurs is a visit to Middlezoy Rovers on Saturday 13, whilst rock-bottom Axminster will hope to cause an upset at home against Bovey Tracey AFC.