End of year round up
This year saw me see go to 41 games the vast majority of which were at the Unwin Ground in Ely. Unlike last year where there were plenty of foreign football trips to some of the more obscure outposts of Eatern Europe, this year all of my football was concentrated in England and more often than not Eastern England. In the Premier League I visited Villa Park and Craven Cottage, the only other league ground being Peterborough's London Road. The second most visited ground after the Unwin was Cambridge United's Abbey Stadium. The other grounds were all non league and included Julius Martin Lane (Soham Town Rangers), Milton Road (Cambridge City), The Walks (home of the hopefully temporarily defunct King's Lynn), The Nest in Outwell (home of Outwell Swifts, but at the moment being used by Wisbech), and a couple of trips to Sherbourne Stadium home of Newmarket Town.
Highlights
Highlights of January were Cambridge United beating Woking 4-1 with Rodders in attendance on what was a bitterly freezing day and Ely City finally dispensing of Great Shelford in the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup.
Febraury was pretty much devoid of football as the weather was bloody awful and the only match was fortunately one of Ely's best performances that I have seen as they dispensed of Soham Town Rangers , 3-2 away in the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup Quarter Finals.
March saw a lot more football being played and there were some memorable days out, Macca came up for Cambridge United's game against Burton Albion and although the Brewers lost 2-0, it was a great day out for all, and although it hailed the start of Burton's attempts to blow automatic promotion, they finally managed it at the end of the season, although unfortuantely to the expense of Cambridge who almost caught them. Other highlights included a first trip to Newmarket Town where they beat Fakenham Town 3-1 and an away win for Ely at King's Lynn
April was a disappointing match as all the games involved Ely losing the only game of any not was when the rserves lost 4-2 to Great Shelford.
In May I finally got to see Aston Villa, however the lads were knackered and they went down 3-1 to Fulham, but a good day was had by all.
July saw a few friendlies, but the most impressive was the Villa kids beating Peterborough 3-0 at London Road, although Ely's Doug Unwin memorial game against Soham, which Soham eventually won on penalties was an enjoyable evening despite the result and quality of football.
The start of more competetive football in August wasn't too great, although a trip to Villa to see them beat Fiorentina 1-0 with a goal from Emile Heskey was a bit of a treat and Cambridge United's 3-0 victory over Gateshead in the Conference came as a welcome restbite from the dreadful football Ely were playing. The matches at Villa Park and the Abbey were also Sean's first trips to Villa Park and the Abbey respectively.
Highlights of September were Villa's victory over Portsmouth and a goal fest at the Unwin where Ely overcame Diss Town 5-4 after extra time in the Vase. The poor old Diss striker got booked for scoring his team and his own 4th goal to put Diss ahead, but it was all in vain.
October was a disappointing month, although we started off dreaming of Wembley when Ely beat Eynesbury Rovers in a great game which ended 3-2 at the Unwin. The other highlight was when the reserves beat Lakenheath 4-3, with Lakenheath bringing a surprising number of fans for a club at this level, and despite the pressure they put on the linesman he had the last laugh ruling out a last minute equaliser for offside.
Highlight of November was Cambridge's game against Kettering, which Cambridge unfortunately lost 2-0, but marked Mark Cooper's last game at the Poppies before he went on to manage Peterborough.
December was a snowy and quiet month with the highlight being Villa's 3-0 victory over Hull City in a very convincing win.
Lowlights
The year started off with what was going to be a pattern for the rest of the year with Ely losing 1-0 to CRC, unfortunately compared with recent games against CRC this was a respectable result for the Robins.
The weather and lack of football was the lowlight of February.
March saw Ely visit Cambridge City and for the second year running they have achieved the award for arseholes of the year. Firstly the stewards pissed Mick off then the same obnoxious fans as last year pissed me off. This was topped off by some of the worst weather possible at a football game and Cambridge winning thanks to a Ben Lawrenson own goal, although you would have thought that they were Brazil the way they were acting. Hopefully I will never go to this shitehole ever again. A 6-1 defeat at Wisbech would have been low point, but we had a good evening and having to placate Nige was a laugh, so we won't dwell on that!
In April Ely's loss against local rivals Mildenhall Town was ludicrous with some of the craziest refereeing ever ruining the game that Mildenhall eventually won 4-2. That said we have seen some more ludicrous refereeing since and the way that Ely have no control of discipline is never going to endear them to visiting officials.
There were no lowlights in May and no football in June and July wasn't too bad apart from Ely not doing their confidence levels too much good with a 6-1 defeat at home to Bury Town in preseason.
August saw some pretty poor results for Ely, but losing to Wisbech 1-0 in the FA Cup was an especially low point, as I was having to control Sean and I didn't see much of the match, and I am getting a bit sick of losing to Wisbech.
For some reason Ely never finish a mid week home tie in cup competitions off in normal time and this can be frustrating on a work night. Therefore, the low point of September was actually an Ely victory. They took King's Lynn Reserves to extra time in the League Cup, but it was cold, Mick was off with flu and I couldn't be arsed to stay for the penalties, as Ely had again snatched a draw from the jaws of victory. I'm not proud of myself, but I legged it and missed an Ely victory on penalties.
October saw some dreadful football, but Ely losing to CRC 5-1 in the Cambridgeshire Cup (which was a welcome distraction last season) and then a 4-1 loss to them in the league also at home were incidents that were particularly hard to swallow.
The football in November and December has been / was good, with the only lowlight being snow ruining the potential for some Boxing Day football.
Highlights
Highlights of January were Cambridge United beating Woking 4-1 with Rodders in attendance on what was a bitterly freezing day and Ely City finally dispensing of Great Shelford in the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup.
Febraury was pretty much devoid of football as the weather was bloody awful and the only match was fortunately one of Ely's best performances that I have seen as they dispensed of Soham Town Rangers , 3-2 away in the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup Quarter Finals.
March saw a lot more football being played and there were some memorable days out, Macca came up for Cambridge United's game against Burton Albion and although the Brewers lost 2-0, it was a great day out for all, and although it hailed the start of Burton's attempts to blow automatic promotion, they finally managed it at the end of the season, although unfortuantely to the expense of Cambridge who almost caught them. Other highlights included a first trip to Newmarket Town where they beat Fakenham Town 3-1 and an away win for Ely at King's Lynn
April was a disappointing match as all the games involved Ely losing the only game of any not was when the rserves lost 4-2 to Great Shelford.
In May I finally got to see Aston Villa, however the lads were knackered and they went down 3-1 to Fulham, but a good day was had by all.
July saw a few friendlies, but the most impressive was the Villa kids beating Peterborough 3-0 at London Road, although Ely's Doug Unwin memorial game against Soham, which Soham eventually won on penalties was an enjoyable evening despite the result and quality of football.
The start of more competetive football in August wasn't too great, although a trip to Villa to see them beat Fiorentina 1-0 with a goal from Emile Heskey was a bit of a treat and Cambridge United's 3-0 victory over Gateshead in the Conference came as a welcome restbite from the dreadful football Ely were playing. The matches at Villa Park and the Abbey were also Sean's first trips to Villa Park and the Abbey respectively.
Highlights of September were Villa's victory over Portsmouth and a goal fest at the Unwin where Ely overcame Diss Town 5-4 after extra time in the Vase. The poor old Diss striker got booked for scoring his team and his own 4th goal to put Diss ahead, but it was all in vain.
October was a disappointing month, although we started off dreaming of Wembley when Ely beat Eynesbury Rovers in a great game which ended 3-2 at the Unwin. The other highlight was when the reserves beat Lakenheath 4-3, with Lakenheath bringing a surprising number of fans for a club at this level, and despite the pressure they put on the linesman he had the last laugh ruling out a last minute equaliser for offside.
Highlight of November was Cambridge's game against Kettering, which Cambridge unfortunately lost 2-0, but marked Mark Cooper's last game at the Poppies before he went on to manage Peterborough.
December was a snowy and quiet month with the highlight being Villa's 3-0 victory over Hull City in a very convincing win.
Lowlights
The year started off with what was going to be a pattern for the rest of the year with Ely losing 1-0 to CRC, unfortunately compared with recent games against CRC this was a respectable result for the Robins.
The weather and lack of football was the lowlight of February.
March saw Ely visit Cambridge City and for the second year running they have achieved the award for arseholes of the year. Firstly the stewards pissed Mick off then the same obnoxious fans as last year pissed me off. This was topped off by some of the worst weather possible at a football game and Cambridge winning thanks to a Ben Lawrenson own goal, although you would have thought that they were Brazil the way they were acting. Hopefully I will never go to this shitehole ever again. A 6-1 defeat at Wisbech would have been low point, but we had a good evening and having to placate Nige was a laugh, so we won't dwell on that!
In April Ely's loss against local rivals Mildenhall Town was ludicrous with some of the craziest refereeing ever ruining the game that Mildenhall eventually won 4-2. That said we have seen some more ludicrous refereeing since and the way that Ely have no control of discipline is never going to endear them to visiting officials.
There were no lowlights in May and no football in June and July wasn't too bad apart from Ely not doing their confidence levels too much good with a 6-1 defeat at home to Bury Town in preseason.
August saw some pretty poor results for Ely, but losing to Wisbech 1-0 in the FA Cup was an especially low point, as I was having to control Sean and I didn't see much of the match, and I am getting a bit sick of losing to Wisbech.
For some reason Ely never finish a mid week home tie in cup competitions off in normal time and this can be frustrating on a work night. Therefore, the low point of September was actually an Ely victory. They took King's Lynn Reserves to extra time in the League Cup, but it was cold, Mick was off with flu and I couldn't be arsed to stay for the penalties, as Ely had again snatched a draw from the jaws of victory. I'm not proud of myself, but I legged it and missed an Ely victory on penalties.
October saw some dreadful football, but Ely losing to CRC 5-1 in the Cambridgeshire Cup (which was a welcome distraction last season) and then a 4-1 loss to them in the league also at home were incidents that were particularly hard to swallow.
The football in November and December has been / was good, with the only lowlight being snow ruining the potential for some Boxing Day football.
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