The Robins blow it
It was never going to be easy for Ely to get a win against Stanway Rovers on Saturday after losing Ben Lawrence to injury, and Chaddders and Pacey being suspended after the ridiculous antics of the referee at Yarmouth. Apart from the Robins missing a centre half, a centre forward and a goalkeeper, Stanway have been one of the most improved teams in the second half of the season and have been scoring for fun. The wheels also seemed to have come off Ely's championship pretensions after losing 6-0 away at Woodbridge the week before.
However despite all these fears it looked like Ely were going to keep up the pressure on Wroxham and get back to winning ways when after only 4 minutes Austin Diaper slotted home. On 16 minutes the Robins doubled their lead when a cleverly worked move saw Adam Murray and Brady Stone (who was back in the team for the first real time this season in place of Ben Lawrence) power into the box and cause confusion with Adam Murray connecting with the ball and heading it into the back of the net to make it 2-0 to the Robins. Ely were given yet another lifeline one minute later when one of the Stanway players was sent off for saying something to the referee. After this harsh decision Luke Parkinson scored, but it was given as offside. However, it looked like the Robins were fully in control and when Macca hit the inside of the post with a blaster on 19 minutes it underlined Ely's dominance.
Stanway weren't going to lie down and let the Robins walk all over them though and on 30 minutes Greygoose, who was standing in for Lee Pacey between the posts, made a spectacular save to keep it at 2-0, which is how the score remained until half time.
It was definitely going to be a game of 2 halves though, as Ely started the second half looking like the team that were 2 goals down and playing with 10 men. On 51 minutes Stanway got a goal back and were suddenly dominating play. Just 2 minutes Brady did well to keep the Robins in the game by clearing the ball off the line, but on 55 Stanway pulled level after some very poor defending let the visitors get an equaliser.
Stanway hadn't finished and put the knife in in the last 10 minutes scoring 2 further goals to come from 2-0 down to win 4-2, in what was the worst performance for the Robins at home all season.
However despite all these fears it looked like Ely were going to keep up the pressure on Wroxham and get back to winning ways when after only 4 minutes Austin Diaper slotted home. On 16 minutes the Robins doubled their lead when a cleverly worked move saw Adam Murray and Brady Stone (who was back in the team for the first real time this season in place of Ben Lawrence) power into the box and cause confusion with Adam Murray connecting with the ball and heading it into the back of the net to make it 2-0 to the Robins. Ely were given yet another lifeline one minute later when one of the Stanway players was sent off for saying something to the referee. After this harsh decision Luke Parkinson scored, but it was given as offside. However, it looked like the Robins were fully in control and when Macca hit the inside of the post with a blaster on 19 minutes it underlined Ely's dominance.
Stanway weren't going to lie down and let the Robins walk all over them though and on 30 minutes Greygoose, who was standing in for Lee Pacey between the posts, made a spectacular save to keep it at 2-0, which is how the score remained until half time.
It was definitely going to be a game of 2 halves though, as Ely started the second half looking like the team that were 2 goals down and playing with 10 men. On 51 minutes Stanway got a goal back and were suddenly dominating play. Just 2 minutes Brady did well to keep the Robins in the game by clearing the ball off the line, but on 55 Stanway pulled level after some very poor defending let the visitors get an equaliser.
Stanway hadn't finished and put the knife in in the last 10 minutes scoring 2 further goals to come from 2-0 down to win 4-2, in what was the worst performance for the Robins at home all season.
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