football rambles

 After a week in France, we were back at the football. The train strike put pay to the plans of going to Peterborough United v Lincoln or Peterborough Sports v Chester or Charlton V Cambridge. Instead we ended up at Ely Reserves, it was alright but not something that i really want to make a habit of this season.

 A different kind of fixture this week, but the sun was out and the beer was cheap, so a pleasant time was had. I had expected the Reserves to suffer a heavy defeat against the Press. They were never really at the races, but had enough to keep it respectable.

 We kept it local and low key this weekend with a lockdownesque visit to the Rezzies. Ely went 2 down, but did well to battle back and earn a point against a more attacking looking March Team.

 Sunday saw a return to the Unwin or Demcom as it is called at the moment to watch the reserves take on Somersham Town. Ely scored in the opening 5 minutes and scored again before half time before getting a third early on in the second half. It was a pretty comfortable and comprehensive victory against a Somersham team that looked a bit out of their depth 

On Saturday our only option was to go down to Ely City Reserves. The game was decent enough with Ely having most of the play, and taking the lead a few minutes before the interval. However despite their dominance the visitors pulled 2 goals back to win the game.

On Saturday we went to see the reserves take on Fowlmere in a preseason friendly. I never know most of the reserve players in the season and have even less of an idea in preseason, so who was who is anybody's guess. It was an entertaining enough game and most of the chances created in the first half were from the home team, whose best chance came when they hit the bar. (Pictured below However, the pressure didn't count for much when the away team scored just before half time. The heat, substitutions and lack of fitness  took it's toll in the second half and things calmed down to a pretty slow pace. Chances were few and far between, but Ely weren't helped by the club linesman from Fowlmere and his flag waving saved his team's blushes on a few occasions. Ely did finally get their reward though when the Fowlmere keeper, who had been on great form flapped at a shot and more or less fumbled it into his own goal and the match finished a draw.

Last Saturday the weather was decent, but the trains were a mess, so we decided to go and watch the reserves play Royston A in their last home game of the season. The game got off to a decent start with Ely grabbing the lead on 6 minutes and Royston equalising on 8. The rest of the half saw a commited performance by both sides, although neither team seemed able to break the deadlock. The second half was a bit less entertaining as Royston grabbed a second and then a third goal. Ely got a consolation with 10 minutes left and what a strike it was. However, Roystom ran out the winners in an entertaining enough affair.

After a few weeks when I have been unable to go to the football we finally got to a game. Unfortunately, there was a bit of nonsense as per usual at the Unwin Ground. The club website and app said the kick off was 3, but it was in fact a 2pm kick off. When we got there it was already 1-1. The second half was decent enough with Ely taking the lead before finally letting 2 goals in, but the effort was there and they were a bit unlucky. Things weren't helped by the fact that one of the linesmen was an octogenarian from Milton, who couldn't keep up with play and who made his offside decisions on what the Milton keeper told him. The Milton defenders were also a bit, shall we say agricultural. Nevertheless, it wasn't a bad day out. It's just a shame that the club can't even get the details right on the website.

After the trauma of following the first team, who finally got a win yesterday when they beat Clacton 4-2 away, i thought I'd give the reserves a go. It was a first round of the William Coad Intermediate Cup and the visitors were Outwell Swifts. Ely had most of the pressure in both halves, but the game was ultimately decided by an own goal from the Ely left back in the opening minutes of the second half. Ely tried their best to get an equaliser, and the goalkeeper also went up in stoppage time, but it wasn't to be despite a good effort. Now only one week to go to the big one in Dortmund!

On Wednesday we were at the Unwin to see the reserves take on local rivals Chatteris. We got some golden goal tickets when we entered the ground, but we were soon disappointed. Our lowest time was 27 minutes, but the Robins took the lead on just 3 when Dean Salmons put the home team ahead. We might have been a bit disappointed by the golden goal, but it was definitely good to see an Ely team actually winning at the Unwin. Ely were pretty much in complete control of the game and on 22 minutes they increased the lead when sustained pressure led to Chatteris putting the ball into their own goal. Ely failed to increase their lead, but never looked anything less than comfortable. The game finished 2-0 and it was a well deserved win for the reserves.

It's that time of the season when the games usually come thick and fast. This season is going a little slower than other seasons though, mainly due to a mild winter and the fact that the local teams haven't put together any decent cup runs. Last Wednesday and Thursday though we managed to get to a couple of games at the Unwin though with Ely Reserves taking on Chatteris on Wednesday and then the final of the John Ablett Cup on Thursday where Red Lodge tried to win the trophy for the second season running when they took on Alconbury.

There are times when you feel like football god owes you one and Saturday was one of those occasions. After Sean's game in the morning we decided to go down the road and see what the reserves were up to. Brady Stone has now taken over at the reserves and they seem to have a few more decent players than they did last season, even though they are now in Senior A of the Cambridgeshire League, a division below where they were last season. On Saturday they were taking on Great Paxton who are currently second in the table. Ely had been on a decent run of late having one their 3 previous games including a 6-2 win over leaders Gaminglay. Ely started off the game promisingly. They had one shot just wide in the opening encounters and hit the woodwork. However, the game sort of petered out into a pre-Christmas snooze and it was a game that was small on action and chances. Even the referee seemed non-plussed by it all. He started the game 7 minutes early, had a shorter than normal half-time,...

December usually turns into a barren month for me in terms of football, even though there seems to be loads of it on. So the chance of a double header at the weekend was too much to pass up on. The weekend started off with a trip to see Ely City Reserves take on Great Paxton and then it was up to the dizzy heights of the Premier League on Sunday when we went to see Norwich take on Swansea.

It's over a week since last Saturday, when I went to see Ely Reserves take on Fulbourn Institute. That's quite a long time to catch up, but to be honest it wasn't great and then last Sunday I went to Yarmouth and on bank holiday Monday I was at a tournament at Cambridge United. I didn't go to a game yesterday, well if you don't include Littleport Rangers v Ely Crusaders in the under 8's league, but I watched Villa v Chelsea and Wigan beat Man City on the TV. Anyway, back to that pointless game last Saturday. The weather was nice, the beer was nice, the football from Ely wasn't. Ian Walters who has been playing for and doing well for the first team was present as was Taz, who came on as sub. The rest may as well not have turned up. In fact if they had been playing in a kick around on the park they may well have been told to do one by the other players. They started off well enough, but Fulbnourn were clearly a stronger team and should have been awarded a ...

On Saturday morning I was busy with Crusaders at Stretham and after clocking up game 42 on Monday night I thought I might not bother with a game in the afternoon. With the time I had there were probably only 2 matches I could make it to. Cambridge City had their last game at Milton Road before joining up with Newmarket for a ground share and Soham had a chance of making the playoffs. As you may have noticed I am not a big fan of Cambridge City and I thought that going to two Soham games in a row wouldn't have gone down well with the regulars at the Unwind. In the end though I couldn't resist going to a game and I realised that even more locally the Ely Reserves were at home to Lakenheath, so for the second time this season I descended down to Step 7 for a Cambridgeshire Senior Premier game. The game started off brightly enough and it had the added interest of having a linesman that I work with, although I fought the temptation to heckle him! Ely whose reserves have had a te...