football rambles

Great Yarmouth on the attack in the first half Lee Pacey clears for Ely in the second half

I have to say that the locals were friendly at the Wellesley, which reminded me of a Serie A ground (he says tongue in cheek) with the running track around it, although that is probably due to the fact that they share the ground with an athletics club. In terms of refreshments there was a tea bar, which also doubled as a souvenir shop with Ipswich and Norwich stuff as well as Bloaters' memorabilia. I have to say that they were quite friendly there and even did the ever demanding Nadiya some toast. They also did bovril at half time, which a lot more clubs in the region should do. There was also a posh tea bar and a proper bar. The proper bar was very comfortable and looked more modern than most Conferenc clubs provide. Again the people were friendly, but we did have to wait until 2.40 to get a drink, because they were waiting for somebody to bring some money to put in the till. I did think of suggesting they took the cash and gave me the change later, but I didn't feel like rock

The ground is a short walk away from the seafront, here is part of the way to the Yarmouth ground. The locals were pretty friendly. Here's me questioning one around the corner from the ground. Here we are at the entrance to the ground.

A bit of an interlude. Here are some random photos of the kids at the seaside.

Yesterday Ely took on Great Yarmouth away at the Wellesley Recreation Ground. And although I have been lucky with the weather at the coast since coming back to England a couple of years ago the weather was dreadful yesterday. Ely had the weather on their side in the first half and Adam Dalby ( I think!) put Ely ahead on 19 minutes. It was a 35 yard blaster that I like the entire Yarmouth defence missed. At half time it remained 1-0 and Ely were unable to extend their advantage of playing with the wind and rain behind them. In the second half both Ely and Yarmouth played well and both keepers had saves to make, but Yarmouth managed to equalise on 69 minutes. After this Ely had most of the play and looked the more likely of the teams to steal the game especially when 15 minutes before time Impey broke through the Yarmouth defence, but unfortunately hit the bar. So the game finished 1-1 and it could have been better, but on balance it was probably a fair result.

Yesterday Ely took on a strong Dereham side at the Unwin and the team played a lot better than they have of late, but unfortunateley they didn't get the reslult needed. All the team played well, but Lee Dixon and Nick Impey probably impressed the most. Ely fell behind early on with Dereham scoring from their first attack of the match on 4 minuites. However the Robins showed determination and a beautifully taken shot by Nick Impey that was both powerful and accurate put the teams on level terms on 18 minuites. One of the most pleasing things about the first half performance was that the players didn't let their heads drop when they went behind and the midfield was engaged with the match and equal to a Dereham side who beat them 3-1 a couple of weeks ago and who are unbeaten this season. The second half was also pretty evenly balanced game with Robbie Mason and Andy Pettit both coming close and Lee Pacey making a couple of good saves from the Dereham forwards. The midfield might

Fenerbahce's name comes from Fener , which is Turkish for lighthouse and Bahce , which is Persian for garden. However neither a lighthouse or a garden appear on the badge. Nevertheless the badge does have a lot of symbolism. The badge was designed by Fener left winger Topuz Hikmet who was helped by Tevfik Haccar (who was based in London or Germany depending on which reference you read)and every little bit of it has some meaning. The white symbolises purity, the red love and attachment and the red and white are also there to invoke the Turkish flag. The yellow and blue as well as being the colours of the club represent admiration and envy, and nobility, while the acorn leaf represents the power of Fenerbahce, so that's you told! Not surprising after all that effort the only major change has been the lettering on the badge which changed when the preffered alphabet of Turkey changed.

Yesterday Ely City took on Stewarts & Lloyds Corby in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup. After the disappointment of going out of the Vase on Tuesday Ely needed to pick themselves up and sharpen up in front of goal. Unfortunately it was Stewarts & Lloyds who took the lead on 10 minutes after their centre forward burst through the Ely defence. Ely had the chance to make ammends just 2 minutes later when they were given a penalty for a foul on Mark Johnstone. Smith stepped up to take the penalty, but the keeper saved. It was another frustrating game for Ely with a lack of ideas in front of goal undermining their chances of making progress. Several changes were made to the team who lost to Gorleston on Tuesday but the main problem seemed to be the tactics of hoofing the ball up field and getting as many bodies in the box as possible and at the same time by commiting too many people forward left gaping holes at the back that Stewarts and Lloyds could possibly have hit on the

Another Tuesday and another cup replay at the Unwin. This time Ely City took on Gorleston, who play in the division below of the Eastern Counties League in a replay of the vase qualifying round after drawing 1-1 away on Saturday. We all expected not to be getting an early night and that was the one front we were not disappointed on. Ely rested several players, but still had out what looked like a fairly competitive side. However, the Robins really lacked fire power up front despite starting with old favourite Andy Pettit and Nick Impey, who always played as a striker before, but has looked a lot livelier since his move to midfield in pre-season. It was Gorleston who should have taken the lead in another game that lacked goal mouth action on 30 minutes when some brave keeping from Lee Pacey and a bit of luck kept them out. Gorleston repeated the move one minute later, but the result was the same. On several occassions during the game Ely's ill advised offside trap and a fast Gorlest

On Tuesday night Ely City took on Wroxham in the FA Cup Preliminary Round replay. The game was only been being played because despite Ely being 2-0 up in the game on Saturday and then they let Wroxham get back to 2-2 despite Wroxham being down to ten men. Anyway, as you may have guessed a mid week cup tie at the Unwin was never going to be settled after just 90 minutes and I had taken both the kids with me, so I'm expecting the NSPCC to knock on the door at any moment. The first half was a fairly turgid affair with neither side really getting a grasp on the game, although Richard Chadwick was causing some problems for the Wroxham defence. However, the deadlock never really looked like being broken and at half time at 0-0. The second half was more of the same, although Simon Warren finally broke the deadlock on 72 minutes. Ely needed to shut up shop and keep a rather impotent Wroxham at bay. However, they didn't manage to keep them out and on 80 minutes Wroxham equalised. There

Players return to the centre circle after Coulson's goal

I got a new phone on Saturday and although the software is getting on my nerves I have mangaged to send a couple of photos from the Cambridge United v Eastbourne Borough match.

On Monday afternoon me, Sean and Matt headed for the Abbey for Cambridge United's game against Eastbourne Borough. Cambridge needed to start scoring and to start winning games and despite having lost on the Saturday previously Eastbourne Borough had started strongly. In the game in what might be one of the last sunny days of the year Cambridge United got off to a fine start with James Jennings ( who was allowed to play after an appeal to a ban) crossing the ball from a corner to Josh Coulson who headed in at the far post. After this Eastbourne looked good on the counter attack, but Cambridge should have been 3 or 4 up at the break. However, they had to settle for only 2 before the break thanks to a thunderous free kick struck by James Jennings, Eastbourne must have wished that Cambridge hadn't appealed for his sending off at Altrincham. The second half was more of the same with Cambridge throwing men forward and always looking dangerous and Eastbourne posing a threat particular

The last two days of August saw two games in two days with a trip to Cambridge United and Ely City. Here's what happened in the following posts.