football rambles

sorry for what is a rather short match report to what was a new experience for me, but also an entertaining match yesterday. Ely City Reserves took on the old nemesis from the Cambridgeshire FA County League, Great Shelford. The first team might have finally taken care of them in the cup, but the reserves never looked like putting them to the sword despite taking an early lead. The winds of change are definitely blowing through Ely though with Dennis Lightning being present at the reserves and 3 of the regulars from the first team Dixon, Lawrence and Bell also appearing for the reserves. Ely took the lead early on through a penalty for a foul in the box, but by half time they were 3-1 down and minus a man after a defensive error from Lawrence, a penalty that saw the defender sent off and a goal that a better keeper would have had trouble handling. Ely started off the second half more brightly and got back in the game with another penalty. However, they were left short at the back and S...

On Tuesday night Ely finally got past Great Shelford in the Cambridgeshire invitation cup to set up a tie against Soham away. If you haven't been following it the hole story started in October when Ely beat Shelford 1-0, but the result didn't stand because the floodlights failed on 87 minutes. The game was subsequently postponed twice because of bad weather. The match was finally replayed on 9th December and Ely anhilated Shelford 5-1, this time though Ely won with an allegedly unregistered player. The rules weren't clear, so the match was replayed yet again. On Tuesday night we finally, finally got a result, but it was a long time coming. For most of the match Ely pressurised the Shelford defence and Shelford, as they had for most of the time in the previous matches, didn't look like scoring. It was afterall a team that had struggled past the reserves on Saturday. However, Shelford hung on for extra time, which was the last thing we wanted with the freezing weather. Fo...

First of all apolgies for the crap photo, but I couldn't actually believe that the floodlights were on and that this game between Ely and Great Shelford was going ahead. As you may remember the game in October ended on 88 minutes with Ely 1-0 up when there was a powercut in the town. In some ways it seemed a bit harsh at the time as Ely had most of the play in that game and the chances of Shelford getting an equaliser had been thin. That said it could also be argued that the Cambridgeshire FA were right to replay the game, as it was only 1-0. Last night though the chasm in difference between the Ridgeons Premier and the Cambridgeshire Senior League were made apparent though. The first half was pretty much like the previous encounter between the 2 clubs with Ely having much of the play, but not making the most of the chances. Therefore it was a relief when Richard Chadwick put the Robins ahead on 25 minutes, but a shame that they didn't capitalise on their lead before half time....

The Ely City game against Great Shelford was again off last night. It doesn't look like they will ever get it played the way things are going, especially with Ely due to face Yaxley away in the Hunts Cup on Tuesday night.

.... Or does it just seem so. I should have been at Ely City v Great Shelford tonight, well if there hadn't been a blackout in Ely in the 88th minute the game wouldn't have been rearranged. The reason I wasn't at the game tonight was that it was postponed, this time for a water logged pitch. Thank God Mick from the club popped round to tell me and thus saved me a trip down the road.

Well we finally have the Cambridgeshire FA's decision on the game that Ely were winning 1-0 with 1 minute to go in the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup. It's going to be replayed on 11th November. Let's just hope the Robins can get a win and have a decent run in the competition and maybe get one of the bigger teams in the competition

Last night saw Great Shelford visit Ely City for the preliminary round of the Cambridgshire Invitation Cup. It might not sound like a big match, especially as Great Shelford play in the Cambridgeshire Senior League, 2 steps below Ely (who are a step 5 team) and the same league as Ely City's reserve team, but the crowd was bigger than they usually get on Saturday, although there were no programmes available. When I was leaving Cambridge the weather was pretty bad and it was raining. I feared for the worst and that the game would be played in a storm, but by kick off the evening had turned into a fairly pleasent autumn night. The pitch was obviously a bit skiddy and I thought we would probably be in for a lot of goals, especially as Ely had a fairly strong side out, despite top scorer Andy Petit being off the team sheet and it also looked as if Great Shelford might be amongst the goals, as Ely were having to play the 'A' Teams goalkeeper. The first half was a fairly dull affa...

On Tuesday night Ely City will play Great shelford in the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup. They play in the Kershaw Premier Division (the Cambridgeshire League), which is a feeder league for the Eastern Counties and the same league that Ely's reserves play in. Great Shelford were formed in 1912 and have been playing at Woodlands Lane since 1920. Their first major trophy came in the 1950s when they won the Foster Cup, which was followed by the Creake Shield in 1963 and the Cambridgeshire Premier League in 1963. In the 1970s the club started to become very successful, when they won the league title in 1975 it was to be one of 12 victories in the league over the next 15 years. They also won the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup 3 times, which is the most number of victories for a club of this level. In 2006-2007 all 3 of the clubs who play under the name Great Shelford won trophies. The first team won the Kershaw's League and the Terry Wilson Trophy, the reserves won the Foster Cup and ...