football rambles

It's a bit off topic, but here is my traditional end of year play list of the bands that I have listened to most this year: http://grooveshark.com/playlist/End+Of+2012/81177925 End of 2012 by jim_bomb on Grooveshark

January The year started off with an Ely victory at home to Mildenhall on 2nd of January in fact Ely continued their good form and I also saw them beat Walsham-le Willows. The only defeat that I witnessed was when Peterborough were convincingly beaten by Portsmouth, who themselves were on the verge of imploding. February The bad weather continued in February, although it did improve towards the end of the month and if Ely's 3-0 win over Felixstowe and Walton was convincing enough, I was in for a real treat when I saw the biggest win that I have ever seen when Thetford beat Cornard 10-0. It could have been far worse for the visiting team as Thetford were on electric form and were 5-0 up within 20 minutes. March March was a bumper month of mixed fortunes. It started with Ely beating a sorry Great Yarmouth team 2-0 at home before suffering a rare home defeat against fellow title contenders and eventual champions, Wroxham. Ely then faced Yarmouth again, but this time away. Ely w

Here are the teams in order of games won and points scored from the games that I went to in 2012: 1 Ely City 2 Thetford Town 3 Aston Villa 4 Wisbech Town 5 Stevenage 6 Portsmouth 7 Cambridge Women 8 Stanway Rovers 9 Bugbrooke St Michael's 10 Deeping Rangers The most goals that I saws in a match was 10 and these were also the biggest home and away wins: 25/2/12 Thetford Town 10 Cornard United 0 17/11/12 Hatfield Town 3 Ely City 7 The stadiums that I visited were The Unwin Ground, Ely (23 times) London Road, Peterborough (4 times) The Abbey Stadium, Cambridge (3 times) Mundford Road, Thetford (2 times) The Walks, King's Lynn (2 times) The Wellesley Ground, Great Yarmouth (once) Broadhall Lane, Stevenage (once) Villa Park, Birmingham (once) Gosling Sports Ground, Welwyn Garden City (once) Recreation Way, Mildenhall (once) I saw a total of 39 games and a whopping 143 goals

Today it didn't start raining until later in the afternoon, so it was a good job that Ely's trip to Mildenhall was scheduled for 11 o'clock and although it was cold it was sunny. At the start of the day Mildenhall were top of the league, and Ely were 13th. However, Ely after a poor start to the season have managed to put a decent run of results together and due to the bad weather and an extended run in the Vase they have a fair few games in hand. We were hoping for a belated decking of the Hall, but it was always going to be a tough game. Mildenhall were the team who were fastest out of the blocks and came close from a free kick on 6 minutes. Ely managed to get into the game at about the quarter of an hour mark when Porky Claydon came close with a header. The game was then end to end stuff, but it was Mildenhall who took the lead on 20 minutes when Kris Thomas put the hosts ahead. They only stayed in the lead for 2 minutes though when Adam Murray forced a diving save f

Love them or hate them the Real Madrid shirt is probably one of the most iconic in the game. They have had such an influence that clubs have often tried to mimic their all white kit. In 1961 Don Revie took over at Leeds and changed the clubs strip from yellow and blue to all white in an attempt to make the club 'the Yorkshire Real Madrid'. Crystal Palace also had a brief stint in an all white kit between 1964-65 after they decided to honour the Madrid club who played them in a game to open the London club's floodlights. Real Madrid were founded in 1902 and have always worn white shirts with white shorts, although the first kit was accompanied by black socks rather than the more familiar white socks of today. Real Madrid were also open to outside influences though and in 1925-26 they introduced black shorts after seeing London side Corinthians wear this combination. They were impressed by the idea of having a kit that looked like an English team's. however after l

If ever there was a day worth celebrating it would be World Football Day, and according to the United Nations that's today - 10 December. I'm not sure if it is a real thing, as the only place I can find anything about it is on the Shakhtar Donetsk site. Happy Football Day, everyone!

On Saturday I had been looking forward to what was going to be the highlight of the season so far with Ely travelling to Bethnal Green in the FA Vase. After a midweek snow alert when South Cambridgeshire and Essex was hit by a flurry of the white stuff I gave Dean a call to see what the situation was. I felt a bit happier to hear that in London it was cold but sunny and as the tube ran under the pitch at Mile End Stadium the chance of the game being off was slim. The weather was pretty stable until Friday evening when there was a bit of a downpour, typically when I was standing outside at Crusaders' training session, but nothing to worry about. Therefore I was a bit shocked when an hour later Mick called me to tell me the game was off. The next day was cold but sunny in both Ely and London. The Crusaders' game was on and I thought about going to either King's Lynn or Thetford in the afternoon. However, after the Crusaders' game I was suffering with flu and then spen

Next weekend Vase fever returns when Ely visit Bethnal Green of the Essex League in the 3rd Round. Bethnal Green play at the Mile End Stadium in Tower Hamlets. Like Hatfield's ground in the last round it's a multi-sports complex, which includes facilities for most sports you could think of. Bethnal Green are fittingly a community club and share the ground with Sporting Bengal of the Kent League. As a club that were founded for that very purpose they are a modern club. The club started out in 2000 and only became a senior club in 2009 when they won the Middlesex League and joined the competitive Essex League. In 2009 -2010 they finished fifth and won both the cups on offer, which is indeed commendable when you look at some of the quality on offer in the league. At the time of writing they lie 4th in the Essex Senior League after finishing 9th last season.

It's that time of year again when the local football is at the mercy of the weather. At this time of year I usually volunteer for some extra Saturday work, as apart from anything else I could do with the cash. This year has been no different and I'm quite glad I volunteered for work last Saturday and this Saturday. Last week Ely's match against Haverhill fell foul of the weather, the pitch was waterlogged. This week I'm working too, but as Crusaders' game this morning was off due to a frozen pitch I would have probably been stuck at home anyway. Let's just hope the weather improves next weekend for a trip to the Mile End Stadium when Ely take on Bethnal Green in the next round of the Vase.

On Saturday Ely took on Hatfield in the Second Round of the FA Vase at the Gosling Sports Ground in Welwyn Garden City. We expected goals and we weren't disappointed. Ely looked likely to be the first to draw blood when Chadwick came close with a header on 4 minutes. However, Ely have been vulnerable from set pieces all season and Hatfield scored from a free kick to take the lead just one minute later. Hatfield didn't hold on to the lead for long though as on 11 minutes a great pass from Chadwick to Adam Claydon saw the Robins have a leveller. 4 minutes later and Claydon and Ely had their second. Ely were originally awarded a penalty, which Luke Parkinson saw saved, but the keeper couldn't keep hold of the ball and Porky pounced to make it 2-1. On 24 minutes Claydon could have had his hat-trick, but he unselfishly passed the ball to Chadwick who was in a better position and Ely were 3-1 up. On the half hour mark it was 4-1 when Chadwick was fouled in the box and Jo

First half action from Hatfield v Ely Lee Pacey looking a bit bored in the second half.

Ely's Alan Allsop thinks about the afternoon ahead. Hatfield Town players warm-up.

Sean tries out the athletics podium. A closer look at the stand.

On Saturday Ely took on Hatfield in the Second Round of the FA Vase. We didn't exactly go to Hatfield though, as the team from the Spartan South Midland League play at the Gosling sports Ground in nearby Welwyn Garden City. The ground itself is an athletics ground, which doesn't really suit football, but you can understand why they would want their own ground. That said whether many people from Hatfield have bothered to carry on following them and if they have gained fans from Welwyn is debatable, as the home support seemed to be in single figures. They weren't even going to bother putting soup on until they found out that over 40 were coming from Ely. The entrance to the ground, well one of them as they have a really complicated entry system looks quite impressive. The dressing rooms were also up the side of a hill, so a pretty long way for the players to get to the pitch and with a running track and a cycling track going round the ground it was an unusual distance to

After a few weeks away I was back at the Unwin to see Ely take on CRC on Saturday. I have to admit to getting a bit distracted. First of all Jon Birkin was in town, secondly the kids were with me and thirdly the phone kept ringing. The first half was a bit dreary with one long stoppage for injury at half time the score was still 0-0. At half time I had my own injury time when I slipped on the steps and then spent most of the second half winded. Darren Coe, who was playing in central defence in place of Ben Lawrence, was having a great game in defence and it was him who put the Robins in the lead. A miscued goal kick from Lee Pacey allowed CRC to get back in the game with a flukey lob before Austin Diaper got the winner. A poor first half and an excellent second half all in all. Hopefully, I'll be back with a proper report next time.

King's Lynn have carried on where they left off last season in the United Counties and are currently second in the Northern Premier League Division 1 South. It seems like they are going to be locked in a two way fight for the Championship again with Coalville, who are top of the table, being their competition for a second consecutive promotion. They must have fancied their chances yesterday as they took on Halesowen, who are currently in mid-table and who had a number of first team players out injured. The Yeltz did have one secret weapon though in the shape of Ben Haseley, who is the division's highest scorer. The Linnets started the game off on the attack and came close on four minutes Dan Quigley shot the ball in and it narrowly missed. Lynn continued to attack and had several chances to get in the lead. In the opening encounters Russell Dunkley was causing the Halesowen defence all sorts of problems and they seemed to be unable to cope with his strength. On 18 minut

We went to Villa Park for Sean's birthday and like last year the game was marred by Villa having to play a large part of the match with 10 men after Joe Bennett was sent off for a second bookable offence. A lot of pundits who probably watch about 3 minutes of highlights of the games have been knocking Villa, yes you Alan Hansen, and the worst Premier League start by the club ever is raising a few eyebrows. Paul Lambert has remained upbeat, although on the face of it there doesn't seem much to be upbeat about. That said I still think that some positives can be taken from the game, which ended in a 1-1 draw and that's not just me wearing claret and blue tinted glasses, things are definitely not as bas as under Mc.Leish last season or as depressing as the final days of Deadly Doug and David O'Leary. Villa played well in the first half and although Norwich were still in the game and threatening at half time, the stats show that Villa dominated and created a lot more th

I didn't make it to Mildenhall on Tuesday, which was perhaps just as well as the Robins lost. I did make it to Villa park yesterday though.

After a busy start to the season it has been a quiet month so far with only 10 days left until we head into the part of the season that often sees a drop in the number of games I get to, mainly, but not exclusively because of the weather. At least I've got a big match planned for next Saturday with Villa taking on Norwich in the Premier League, not that I expect there both of them to be there next season as neither of them are showing decent format. Hopefully Villa will still be there, but after Norwich beat Arsenal yesterday it looks like they might be in a better position to escape the drop than Villa at the moment. The game will have a bit of an extra bite though with Lambert now in charge at Villa after working miracles at Carrow Road. His magic wand hasn't been working at Villa yet but he needs to get busy with it soon. A team that is on format are Mildenhall, and Ely are visiting there in the League Cup on Tuesday and hopefully I'll make it to that game too. Makin

Ely in defence in the early part of the second half. The players take a bit of a breather in the middle of the field. Ben Lawrence clears for the Robins. Ely on the attack.

Gorleston get on the attack after Ely's opener. Gorleston clear as Ely come close Luke Parkinson comes close for Ely City Action from the middle of the field.

Luke Parkinson passes the ball to Adam Murray. The Gorleston goalkeeper clears. The pass from Adam Murray to Paul Claydon that lead to Ely's first goal.

The players shake hands at before the game kicks off. Gorleston players get in a huddle Ely captain Lee Pacey and the Gorleston captain meet up Ely get the game under way.

Yesterday Ely met Gorleston at the Unwin Ground. The visitors have had a decent start to the season and are among the early pacesetters, so despite the fact they lost last week they were going to prove a tougher test than Downham did on Tuesday night. Ely, however did have a full strength squad to choose from for the first time this season so hopes that they were finally going to turn the corner were also high. Ely started off dominating the game and a clever through ball by Adam Murray on 10 minutes was met by the head of Paul Claydon and the Robins took an early lead. The visitors started to get into the game shortly after and on 14 minutes Pacey made a great save from the visitors, although the linesman was flagging for offside. After this Gorelston put Ely under increasing pressure, but the defence was finally at full strength and the Parkinson brothers looked dangerous on the break. Neither of the sides had any real chances in the first half until Gorleston hit the post on 41

Last night Ely took on Downham Market (Downham Town) in the league cup. Downham are in the first division and have never been one of the stronger clubs even in the lower division. Therefore it was a chance for the Robins to either give themselves a confidence boost after an indifferent start to the season or could have been an early nail in this season's coffin. Fortunately, it was the former rather than the latter that we witnessed last night. Ely got off to the perfect start when a Luke Parkinson cross got the faintest of touches off Adam Murray (well, he seems to be claiming it, although it may have been an own goal) to put the home team in the lead. Ely continued by bombarding the Downham goal with shots. Downham had their first, and probably their only chance of the entire game on 20 minutes, but managed to almost hit the corner flag when they should have scored. We weren't to know that Downham weren't going to create much then though, so it was a great relief when a

A Wolves attack is broken down in the first half. Mark Little in Peterborough's defence. Gabriel Zakuani Robert Olejnik getting ready for Ebanks-Blake's penalty Sean gives a press conference at London Road