football rambles

 Despite being just 10 miles away, I went on the convoluted trip of a train to King's Lynn and then a bus to Wisbech in order to get to the game on Saturday. I had been meaning to go to the Fenland Stadium since it opened 10 years ago, but this was the first time I actually mad it. After some light refreshments in town, we made our way up yet another Lynn Road to get to what was a pretty nice little ground.  Neither team had really been setting the league alight this season with Wisbech having won their first game of the season the week before when they put four past Sleaford. I decided to stand with the away fans, just out of a bit of Midlands solidarity and that I used to enjoy the Bass Charity Shield at Gresley back in the 80s. It seemed particularly fitting after the passing of Gary Shaw, who I saw play for Villa at their ground. As a few games have already been this season, this was a game of two halves. Gresley looked like they had the taking of Wisbech in the first half...

Last night on a cold February night Ely took on Wisbech at the third attempt. The game had originally been called off at the last minute on January 2nd because of heavy rain and the rearranged game fell victim to the snow. Was it worth the wait? Well, not really. Apart from the weather the pitch had taken a battering after the reserves had played on it on Saturday and Cambridge Women on Sunday. I'm not sure if the plan of rolling the life out of it every time it gets cut up is the answer though. Wisbech have been doing well enough this season, but still seem to be falling below their expectations, and after going out of the Vase they got rid of 4 players including Dubi Ogbonna. Ely on the other hand have had a disappointing season after finishing 2nd last season, they have been a fixture in the lower half of the mid table. There have been a few flashes of inspiration, but a few games where they have deserved the tag that a few clubs have levied at them of being a non-league Stoke...

Yesterday we made the trip up to the Walks for the first pre-season fixture of the period when Lynn took on Wisbech in what can only be described as one of the tastiest Derby matches. Over 450 people turned up for a game that was a hastily arranged game, which shows how important the fixture is locally. Lynn have recently been promoted to Step 4 and will play in the Northern Premier League Souther Division after 2 successful seasons in the United Counties League, whereas Wisbech will be playing in the Eastern Counties at Step 5 after finishing 4th in that league last year. It will be interesting to see how both clubs get on, as Wisbech have their eyes fixed on promotion and have strengthened the team with signings such as Chris Bacon who used to play for Lynn and Dubi Ogbonna of Soham Town Rangers fame. Both of these players could play at a higher level, but probably don't fancy having to travel too much. Conversely Lynn have seen their preparations put back with the club represe...

Last night Ely took on Wisbech in a Cambridgeshire Derby at the Unwin. Ely were further down on numbers with yet more injuries and suspensions, so much so there was only one outfield player on the bench. Wisbech on the other hand had players on the bench that would have started in most teams in the Eastern Counties League. Furthermore, Wisbech have had a good start to the season, although it has to be stated that most of the good results they gained came from home games at their new ground, which has a bit of a hostile atmosphere or so I here. Despite the lack of available players and the supposed quality of the opposition Ely got off to a great start with Andy Pettit heading the Robins ahead on 3 minuites. This set the scene for most of the first half with Ely playing a nice passing game with the ball on the floor and also creating numerous chances. In fact Ely could have easily been 2-0 up at half time when Andy Pettit hit the crossbar on 35 minutes. Wisbech's first real chance c...

Last night Ely played Wisbech in what can perhaps be called a local derby in front of a not too bumper crowd of 101. However, the weather was pretty bad and the league had fiddled with the fixtures that many times nobody could be blamed for not knowing what was going on. In fact before the gam we weren't entirely sure if the opposition were Wisbech or Mildenhall. As it happens Mildenhall were playing CRC in the Cambridgeshire cup last night and will be playing at Ely next Tuesday. The weather has been dreadful lately though, hence this being my first trip to the Unwin since Decmber and more snowfall today might mean that the Mildenhall game could be off if things don't improve. Thankfully the pitch wasn't frozen or waterlogged last night, a state it has been fluctuatng beween for most of the winter. Finally, though Ely got a victory over the Fenmen, who seem to have been a bogie team for Ely at least since I have been following the Robins. The first half was a bit of a stal...

Ely Cty's run in the FA Cup was over before it began when Ely lost at home to Wisbech in the Extra Preliminary Round Yesterday. Wisbech Town destroyed Ely home and away last season, despite having a mediocre season themselves and having to play at the Nest in Outwell. Things didn't get better for the Robins yesterday. To be fair Ely were without 10 players due to suspensions, injuries and holidays, but Wisbech were probably having similar problems and hadn't got off to the greatest of starts themselves having lost their first 2 games. I was distracted by Sean for most of the first half with him demanding stuff and playing football on the pitch behind the new fence. However, Wisbech seemed to have the best of the first half and went in at the break 1-0 up. Ely looked a better prospect in the second half, but never really worried the Wisbech goal with Robbie Mason and Tony Beck squandering several chances. The first really close cut chance came when Stephen Bell came on off t...

Another midweek sport special, but a very different day out to the trip last week to Kings Lynn. After the salubrious setting and conference standard ground at Kings Lynn we made the relatively short trip from Ely to Outwell to watch the Robins, playing in blue, always a bad omen I'm informed. The opponents were Wisbech Town who are actually below Ely in the league, but like Ely have recenly found winning ways. Wisbech are currently playing at the Nest in Outwell while they are having a new ground built in Wisbech. It sounds like the Fenmen are running into trouble with this little project, and it could land them in trouble as the Nest is not deemed good enough for the Eastern Counties League. I didn't think that the ground was that bad, it had a little stand and the only thing that could possibly be problematic for them is that there is no turnstile, but entry is through the village hall. However, is this really a problem at this level? Anyway, enough of the stalling the worst...

I have to admit, there's something good about going and watching a game when the weather is really bad. Last night the weather was appaling it was freezing and pouring it down with rain when Ely met wisbech in the Eastern Counties League. the weather was so bad that Luton and Northampton had to call their games off. As for the football, it was entertaining enough, although the bad weather saw some pretty direct long balls. The game finished 3-2 to Wisbech Town, in a game where the result could have gone either way and frequently did the Fenmen of Wisbech showed a bit more knowledge than Great Shelford and Market Needham did. Firstly they seemed fairly sussed to the offside trap Ely tend to use and defended well from Bradley Stone's long throws. That said, the game could have easily been a draw and the kids were probably disappointed when they called for another failure of the floodlights, as Wisbech scored a winner in the 80th minute. Andy Petit managed to net a double for the ...

Tomorrown night Ely play a team known as the Fenmen from a town that proclaims itself as 'the capital of the Fens.' So the question is, how did I miss them out when I first wrote the Fens football focus? Wisbech Town were formed in 1920 when 3 teams from the town came together to form one club who went on to play in the Peterborough League, which they won in 1925,28,29,32 and 33. They then turned semi pro and joined the United Counties (which they won in 1947, 48 and 60) , they later switched to the Eastern Counties League and then the old Midlands league. In 1958 they finished runners up to a club who are now well established in the league, Peterborough United. The game against Peterborough in that season saw them get a record crowd of 8044 and finishing second led to them gaining a place in the Southern League, where they remained for 12 seasons. After a shortage of cash they went back down to the Eastern Counties League. They won the ECL in 1971, 72 and 1995 and in 1983-84 t...