football rambles

 The two teams went into the game yesterday having been on very different runs of form. Gorleston had won 3 of their last 4, whereas Downham had lost their last 5 games. Downham had also been forced into making 7 changes for this game, whereas Gorleston remained unchanged. Therefore, I went to the game with quite low expectations of a home win. However, Downham started off lively enough and created most of the chances and looked the most likely to take the lead in the opening 15 minutes. Nevertheless, you know how it works when your the off-form team against the on-form team - and Gorleston took the lead through Joe Marsden on 17 minutes. The rest of the first half was a bit of a damp squib. Downham pressed but with three short and slight forwards against a tall strong Gorleston defence were unable to put enough pressure on to create any meaningful opportunities. The second half saw Downham come out firing and they created some good chances, but still suffered from a lack of streng...

 This was not an enjoyable game at all. It rained all game and when you go down 1-0 at 2:59 when kick off is 3:00 against the league leaders, it's never likely to end well. Gorleston scored in the first minute, added another before the break and scored again after kick off in the second half. I am glad that I spent a great deal of the second half in the bar looking out through the window as this was a truly abject performance.  There were some new seats in the stand and the bar prices are good though, so at least Ely are doing things right off the pitch, even if things quite often don't seem to be going so well on it.

Ely in defence in the early part of the second half. The players take a bit of a breather in the middle of the field. Ben Lawrence clears for the Robins. Ely on the attack.

Gorleston get on the attack after Ely's opener. Gorleston clear as Ely come close Luke Parkinson comes close for Ely City Action from the middle of the field.

Luke Parkinson passes the ball to Adam Murray. The Gorleston goalkeeper clears. The pass from Adam Murray to Paul Claydon that lead to Ely's first goal.

The players shake hands at before the game kicks off. Gorleston players get in a huddle Ely captain Lee Pacey and the Gorleston captain meet up Ely get the game under way.

Yesterday Ely met Gorleston at the Unwin Ground. The visitors have had a decent start to the season and are among the early pacesetters, so despite the fact they lost last week they were going to prove a tougher test than Downham did on Tuesday night. Ely, however did have a full strength squad to choose from for the first time this season so hopes that they were finally going to turn the corner were also high. Ely started off dominating the game and a clever through ball by Adam Murray on 10 minutes was met by the head of Paul Claydon and the Robins took an early lead. The visitors started to get into the game shortly after and on 14 minutes Pacey made a great save from the visitors, although the linesman was flagging for offside. After this Gorelston put Ely under increasing pressure, but the defence was finally at full strength and the Parkinson brothers looked dangerous on the break. Neither of the sides had any real chances in the first half until Gorleston hit the post on 41 ...

Yesterday Ely took on Gorleston and as has been usual of late there were plenty of goals. Gorleston were quick out of the blocks and Lee Pacey had to get down well to block a Gorleston shot on 3 minutes. Ely soon got back into the swing of things though and Adam Wallis was unlucky to shoot wide. This led to a sustained period of pressure by Ely, but the Gorleston defence were fairly resolute and the attackers looked dangerous on the counter attack. On 20 minutes the visitors caught the Ely defence napping and were 1-0 up. Ely continued to pile on the pressure and Gorleston continued to mop it up and on 38 minutes things went from bad to worse for the Robins when a well worked move from the Gorleston players led to a second goal and it looked like Ely would be lucky to get anything out of the game. If they were to get anything it was probably necessary that they got something in the first half. Luckily Ely did strike back quickly and a Ben Lawrence throw was flicked on by Adam Murray an...

Another Tuesday and another cup replay at the Unwin. This time Ely City took on Gorleston, who play in the division below of the Eastern Counties League in a replay of the vase qualifying round after drawing 1-1 away on Saturday. We all expected not to be getting an early night and that was the one front we were not disappointed on. Ely rested several players, but still had out what looked like a fairly competitive side. However, the Robins really lacked fire power up front despite starting with old favourite Andy Pettit and Nick Impey, who always played as a striker before, but has looked a lot livelier since his move to midfield in pre-season. It was Gorleston who should have taken the lead in another game that lacked goal mouth action on 30 minutes when some brave keeping from Lee Pacey and a bit of luck kept them out. Gorleston repeated the move one minute later, but the result was the same. On several occassions during the game Ely's ill advised offside trap and a fast Gorlest...