Wind, sun and a bouncey pitch
... And not much goalmouth action were the order of the day at the local derby between Ely and Mildenhall today, which ended in a 0-0 draw. The wind, sun and bounce of the hard pitch made it hard for the teams to settle in the first half and get the run of the game. In the second half the end of a long season, with both teams no longer having anything meaningful to play for seemed to be the main factor.
It didn't always look like the game was heading for a 0-0 draw though, especially when after 6 minutes the Hall had the ball in the back of the net. It was given as offside though, but it was very marginal. In fact for the first time in a long while Ely were back to living dangerously by employing an offside trap that past experience can tell us can often end in tears. Anyway, 4 minutes later Ely had a chance to go into the lead, but Luke Parkinson put the ball into orbit rather than into the back of the net. On 22 minutes Luke Parkinson had another chance to put Ely in the lead when an Ely corner went past most of the Mildenhall defence, but unfortunately for the Robins Mildenhall's excellent young keeper Josh Pope got on the end of it. Mildenhall also had a decent chance 5 minutes later, but this time the header by the Hall forward went just over the bar. The best chance and perhaps only realistic chance of the half fell to Mildenhall on 41 minutes when the Ely defence were well beaten. The forward could have probably put the ball in the back of the net, but instead thought that Ely keeper Lee Pacey was committed and thought that a cross to the far post was a better option, however Pacey recovered and managed to just clear the ball off the line.
Both teams looked knackered in the second half and the first real action in either of the teams' penalty areas came on 64 minutes when Ely defender Ben Lawrence put the ball in the goal, but he was judged to have fouled an opponent before the ball had crossed the line. Mildenhall tried to freshen things up on 68 minutes with a double substitution, but it was Ely who came closer to making a break through again. On 70 minutes Nick Impey managed to force his way past the Mildenhall defence, but Pope came rushing off his line almost as far as the half way line to successfully tackle Impey. Things were starting to look a bit desperate for both sides and when on 73 minutes when Adam Murray had a very speculative shot from distance it more or less summed up the way the game was growing and it looked like nobody was going to grab the winner. From the goalkick that resulted from Minty's shot Mildenhall managed to get a corner thanks to a miss kick from Ben Lawrence, but nothing resulted from it to bother Lee Pacey. What did worry the Robins was when a Mildenhall player was breethed on in the penalty area with 5 minutes left and went down like a sack of potatoes. The referee had a a good hard look, but decided nothing was amiss and the last 5 minutes were played out without much else happening.
It didn't always look like the game was heading for a 0-0 draw though, especially when after 6 minutes the Hall had the ball in the back of the net. It was given as offside though, but it was very marginal. In fact for the first time in a long while Ely were back to living dangerously by employing an offside trap that past experience can tell us can often end in tears. Anyway, 4 minutes later Ely had a chance to go into the lead, but Luke Parkinson put the ball into orbit rather than into the back of the net. On 22 minutes Luke Parkinson had another chance to put Ely in the lead when an Ely corner went past most of the Mildenhall defence, but unfortunately for the Robins Mildenhall's excellent young keeper Josh Pope got on the end of it. Mildenhall also had a decent chance 5 minutes later, but this time the header by the Hall forward went just over the bar. The best chance and perhaps only realistic chance of the half fell to Mildenhall on 41 minutes when the Ely defence were well beaten. The forward could have probably put the ball in the back of the net, but instead thought that Ely keeper Lee Pacey was committed and thought that a cross to the far post was a better option, however Pacey recovered and managed to just clear the ball off the line.
Both teams looked knackered in the second half and the first real action in either of the teams' penalty areas came on 64 minutes when Ely defender Ben Lawrence put the ball in the goal, but he was judged to have fouled an opponent before the ball had crossed the line. Mildenhall tried to freshen things up on 68 minutes with a double substitution, but it was Ely who came closer to making a break through again. On 70 minutes Nick Impey managed to force his way past the Mildenhall defence, but Pope came rushing off his line almost as far as the half way line to successfully tackle Impey. Things were starting to look a bit desperate for both sides and when on 73 minutes when Adam Murray had a very speculative shot from distance it more or less summed up the way the game was growing and it looked like nobody was going to grab the winner. From the goalkick that resulted from Minty's shot Mildenhall managed to get a corner thanks to a miss kick from Ben Lawrence, but nothing resulted from it to bother Lee Pacey. What did worry the Robins was when a Mildenhall player was breethed on in the penalty area with 5 minutes left and went down like a sack of potatoes. The referee had a a good hard look, but decided nothing was amiss and the last 5 minutes were played out without much else happening.
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