FORMER Court Fields School student Tom Nichols hit the football headlines on Friday night when he starred in Exeter City’s surprise 2-2 home draw against mighty Liverpool in the third round of the FA Cup.

Young Nichols, 22, a player with City for more than ten years, stunned Liverpool and German boss Jurgen Klopp by putting Exeter ahead early on and went on to earn the Man of the Match award from BBC commentator Danny Murphy.

My friend Alan ’Absolutely superb’ Shearer and Ian Wright also agreed with Murphy’s choice.

Exeter were also 2-1 up in the second half before Liverpool, admittedly well below full strength and fielding a very young side, forced a replay with an equaliser in the 73rd minute.

It was a full-blooded cup tie with both sides involved in an exciting game throughout.

The atmosphere was good and Exeter can look forward to a bumper pay-day when they play at Anfield in the replay.

Nichols has been a full-time professional for five years but has largely gone unnoticed by the big clubs - until now.

Another performance by Nichols like Friday in the replay at Liverpool will make it very difficult for Exeter to hold on to him.

It was a big night too for Tom’s parents Pete, who lives in Springfield, and Chris who lives at Ruishton. They both watched the game. The replay at Anfield is expected to net Exeter £700,000.

Pete admitted he was one of the proudest men at City’s ground at St James Park and said afterwards: "I’ve had texts from all over the world - South Africa, Australia, Turkey.

"It was a great night - and the family had a great view of the game. I thought the Exeter fans were brilliant."

Pete, who comes from Sunderland and ran the King’s Arms in Wellington for 13 years, added: "I was pleased with the comments made by the pundits - Murphy, Shearer and Wright.

"I didn’t speak to Tom afterwards - I thought I would leave him to take everything in."

"I don’t think things could have gone any better for him," said Pete who played in the Northern League as a youngster and also had a season under Sammy Kingdom at Wellington.