football rambles

 So on Sunday, Downham won the playoffs and will now play at the highest level they have in their history. Downham who finished third took on Walsham who finished fifth after wins against Ely and Fakenham in the semifinals. Downham perhaps went into the game as favourites after finishing higher and a convincing win against Ely. Walsham had finished fifth and had scraped past Fakenham who had an injured keeper for a significant part of the second half. Things didn't start as planned though with Walsham taking the lead after only four minutes.  The wind really wasn't helping though and on 12 minutes, it was all equal when a Langy cross was met by Dylan Edge to convert and the teams were on level terms. The rest of the half followed a similar pattern with attack and counter attack and the wind playing havoc. Both teams seemed to elect to put the ball in the air when playing it on the ground would have probably resulted in more predictable passages of play. There was some good def...

 It's been a busy week, so I am only just catching up with this game from last Saturday, so it's also going to be a very short report! The game was really entertaining and top of the table Thetford were really good value for money. All of the goals were good quality. George Diggens got a brace for Thetford and Cameron King was also on the score sheet. Scott Chaplin scored the goal for Walsham. At 2-0 it appeared that Thetford were cruising, but Walsham pulled one back before Thetford finished them off. As always it was a good day out at Thetford and hopefully they will go up next season, but I am not 100% sure that their ground will make it even if the team do.

The team sheet The teams line up Walsham on the attack

After spending most of the week in luxury in a warm hotel in Malta, it was back to earth with a bump on Saturday. I had acclimatised after having spent the morning seeing Ely Crusaders beat Soham United 3-1. My original plan had been to follow this up with a trip to King's Lynn to see them take on Buxton who I used to follow many years ago. However, the trains fought against me and I decided to spend my afternoon at another muddy field and see Thetford take on Walsham le Willows. Thetford, like Ely, find themselves at the wrong end of the Eastern Counties League table this season, while Walsham are in one of those league places where they don't have to worry about ground upgrades for promotion or being relegated. Thetford were clearly up for the battle though and in the 3rd minute took the lead when a cross / strike from the left by Steve Harley caught out Duncan McNally in the Walsham goal and ended up in the back of the net. It looked from then on that McNally might s...

Yesterday Ely took on Walsham-le-Willows on a day that almost, but not quite threatened to be Spring like. Ely have been on a bit of a run of late and Walsham at the start of the day were in third and having the kind of season Ely had last time out. It looked like it was going to be a tough game for the Robins and they were pretty much under pressure from the start, Ely had a few chances, but Walsham looked the most dangerous and their impressive striker Ollie Hughes was proving a handful. He came close on 15 minutes, but the visitors finally took the lead on 36 minutes when an attempt at the offside trap by Ely failed miserably. The second half started with Ely looking like getting back into the game, although they seemed to be lacking imagination up front. Therefore when Adam Murray was fouled in the box on 59 minutes it looked like a penalty might offer them their best chance of drawing level. Chadders stepped up to take the penalty, but it rebounded off the post. Fortunately, he ...

Yesterday Ely City took on Walsham-le-Willows in what could have been a potential banana skin of a game. Ely are still in third and Walsham are in the bottom half of the league, however Walsham had just beaten the top two teams over Christmas and new investment in the club means that they could, like Ely be about to embark on an upward trajectory. There was a new look at the Ely ground too as the hard winds of the week had seen the cover blown off the covered part of terracing, which in a way made for an improvement in the view from the main stand. Ely's best bet was probably to take the game to Walsham and take it they did. Ely went ahead on the 2nd minute when Austen Diaper got a massive deflection and the ball went into the back of the Walsham net. Ely continued to press for more goals and Diaper and Chadwick continued to push for a second and Stuart Walker was controlling the game in the centre of the Robins midfield. On 27 minutes Ely could have easily been 2 up when Lewis McD...

Yesterday Ely took on Walsham-le-Willows on a day when it was hotter in Ely than in Cairo. Not surprisingly the two teams who were more or less well balanced in terms of performances over the season cancelled each other out with the second half being probably dominated by tiredness and thirstiness, which ultimately saw the two teams cancelling each other out. Ely started off brightly enough with Goodge, Chadwick and Impey creating a few chances, but it was Walsham who made the breakthrough on 21 minutes when an uncharacteristic slip by the person I have voted for as player of the season, Adam Murray let Walsham have a clear shot in the six yard box. The shot was miraculously saved by Lee Pacey, but Pacey brought the forward down as the ball rebounded back. The Walsham player sent a decent penalty in slightly to Pacey's left and they were one up. On 29 minutes Walsham had a chance to double their lead, but another fine save by Pacey denied them. However, Ely weren't out of it ye...

It's perhaps not the most inspiring of fixtures today when Ely City take on Walsham at the Unwin. Both clubs are in mid-table just above the relegation zone with little chance of being relegated (thankfully) and the brilliant weather will probably not inspire a big crowd to turn out as most people will head for the coast, beer gardens, barbecue stores. I don't know why I missed the fixture last season, I was probably working, but the season before the game was played in dreadful weather and the game ended in an uninspiring 1-1 draw with Lee Dixon, who followed ex-manager Dennis Lightning to Sawston, scoring Ely's goal. Anyway, this is supposed to be about Walsham, but as you have probably guessed there isn't a great deal to say about to them. Walsham-le-Willows is situated to the East of Bury St.Edmunds in a part of Suffolk where it seems every town and village has a poncey name. The village is most famouf for being quite a pretty place and starred in a book on the plag...

Yesterday I went to Ely City v Walsham Le Willows, and again the weather was fairly bad. Ely went one down early on, but managed to get an equaliser through Lee Dixon on 44 minutes. The second half saw Ely come close on a number of occassions, but they weren't able to nick the win in the end. a bit of a short report this time and again apologies for no photos