football rambles

The Eastern Counties League results so far this season have been unpredictable to say the least. Ely's have been a bit more predictable and perhaps a bit better than could be expected having beaten Clacton at home and Gorleston away and as would be expected losing to Dereham and Haverhill away. Diss have also had a mixed bag of results with their highlight being a 4-0 crushing of Great Yarmouth. Therefore despite the 4-0 thrashing that Ely inflicted on Diss in the Cup a couple of weeks ago it was difficult to predict what would happen last week. Ely didn't exactly start where they had left off in the Cup, as the first 10 minutes were pretty open, although the Robins looked the most likely side to score, with Josh Bridgeman coming close on 6 minutes and Austen Diaper also having a fine chance on 10. Five minutes later and Impey should have put Ely ahead from another pass from Austen Diaper, but he blasted it over. Ely were to continue where they had left off in the Cup th...

Saturday morning and I had a dilemma. I was pretty skint but needed a football fix. A quick look at the fixtures confirmed what I already knew: Ely were away, Thetford were away, Soham were away and King's Lynn were also away. I toyed with the idea of going to March Town United, a ground that seems to strike fear into the hearts of most nonleague fans who have ventured there, but they were also away, so I'll have to find out another day what the problem there is. I wasn't in the mood for Newmarket Town, which was probably just as well as they drew 0-0 with the omnipresent Diss. I toyed with the idea of going to Yaxley, but the transport options didn't look great. The other games on offer were Cambridge United V Hayes and Yeading and Histon V Corby. The weather was bad, neither of the fixtures inspired me and to be honest if I'm not meeting up with anybody I tend to avoid Cambridge if I'm on holiday. Therefore my last, but very cheap option was Ely City Reserves ...

What do you do on a wet and windy day by the seaside when you are sick of the amusements and fish and chips? Go to the local museum of course. Earlier this week I was down in Brighton for a break rather than the tedious work trips that take place in Brighton. The second day was pretty rubbish as far as the weather was concerned and we found ourselves in the local museum. Now don't get me wrong I enjoy a bit of history, but local museums tend to have the same series of themes running through them: A bit of history about how the town was formed (i.e. Vikings / Saxons / Normans, etc.); some famous battle (War of the Roses, Civil War); a look at the towns glory years and some of the harsh realities of the time (Usually always the Victorian era) and then some stuff about the two world wars abd their aftermath and its impact on the local community. Therefore I was pleasently surprised that in Brighton as well as the usual stuff there was a lot more about the more social side of histor...

Maybe it's a bit, well very optimistic to think that Ely will get anywhere near Wembley, but the first game in the FA Cup in the extra preliminary round saw the Robins progress in style and also the extra cash from a cupm run will come in very handy. Ely completely dominated the game against Diss yesterday and ran out 4-0 winners in a pretty one sided contest. They did get a bit of help from the Tangerines of Diss though, who at times seemed happy to give Ely all the chances they could. The first goal which was scored by Richard Chadwick was pretty much indicative of the game as a whole. He fluffed his lines the first time and made a bit of a hash oif it, but Diss failed to clear their lines and he managed to force the goal of the line at the second attempt. After this Ely dominated the game and could have been further ahead if they hadn't wasted some of their chances. Diss looked particularly weak on crosses and as for their own attacking they weren't able to get pas...

Forget it when the media start going on about the FA Cup when the first round begins. The extra preliminary round starts tomorrow when Ely City take on Diss Town in what should be a close and from previous experiences a high scoring game. Let's hope that the Robins can put together a decent run in the Cup and the Vase this season - they need the cash. A decent run in the Cambs Senior Cup wouldn't go a miss either, as that was the highlight of the season 2 years ago, so no putting out weakened sides in any of the competitions this year, please.

I couldn't be bothered to think of a witty headline for this, but it was a cracking match. We were joined by Beer Can and his friend, in fact I hardly ever seem to get down to the Shabby without guests in tow. I have predicted that Telford will shock a few Conference fans this season, most of whom seemed to have written them off before they had a chance to kick a ball after gaining promotion from the Conference North at the end of last season. However the Bucks have been scoring for fun in pre-season and I think they will pose more of a threat than the Conference big boys think they will pose. They certainly started off well enough at Cambridge on Tuesday night and could have easily been 3-0 up at the break if it wasn't for some impressive saves from Cambridge goalkeeper Danny Naisbitt, who was on tremendous form. A string of saves and double saves kept out the Telford onslaught with Sean Newton looking especially dangerous from set pieces. Cambridge on the other hand l...

... I have to go to Gatwick tomorrow, so won't be at the game, so you might have to send a reporter.