football rambles

At least this includes a photo of CRC on the attack.

The photos here all show Wroxham on the attack and one where they have just missed the target. It was impossible to take any photos of CRC attacks because of the angle of the sun.

Here follows a few photos from CRC V Wroxham. This one is from the team line up.

Yesterday we saw a game that led to Ely going back to the top of the league without seeing Ely play. The game in question was CRC V Wroxham at the Abbey. It was the first footballing Saturday of Spring and when the weather improves at the tail end of the season the local non-league football starts to deteriorate, mainly because the teams I follow never have much to play for. This season is different though with Ely challenging at the top of the Eastern Counties Premier and Thetford going for promotion from the first. They both have finals to look forward to with Ely taking on Soham in the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup and Thetford facing Gorleston in the Norfolk Cup. Yesterday CRC who are in 4th might have been excused for taking their foot off the pedal a bit, especially after a fixture full couple of weeks and playing on a particularly hot day. Wroxham on the other hand have everything to play for and are hopeful of promotion to the Ryman League. Therefore it was a bit of a shock tha

On Tuesday night Ely took on Royston in the semifinal of the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup. Ely might be top of the Eastern Counties, but Royston are top of the Southern Midland League and are well in control at the top. Added to that they swatted aside Thetford in the FA Vase earlier this season, so it was never going to be the easiest of games for the Robins. In fact things got off to a pretty poor start with Royston's big centre half scoring from a corner after just 3 minutes. It was just the wake up call that Ely needed and they started to press as they had to get back in the game. Unfortunately for most of the opening period they managed to combine some slick passing with some woeful passing. They did finally get back on level terms on 21 minutes when Ben Lawrence was caught in the face by a stray boot and the Robins were awarded the penalty. Richard Chadwick then stepped up to strike his second penalty home in 3 days. Royston came back at Ely, but were clearly not used to los

St.Patrick's day and a trip to the seaside, what could be better? Well, the weather for starters. Like last time Ely were at Great Yarmouth it rained all day, but that wasn't enough to dampen our spirits and after a trip round the town, to the funfair and the pub, which included spotting a couple of Ely players getting stuck into fish and chips we made it to the Wellesley for a pint of Guinness in their impressive clubhouse. We had time to enjoy it though as the kick off was put back by 15 minutes, as some of the Ely players had got caught up in a traffic jam. Things clearly aren't going to well at Yarmouth. They were relegated last week having only got 7 points from 33 games. The memorabilia that had adorned the walls of the clubhouse had gone and a crowd of just 50 with a large contingent from Ely says it all really. The people still doing work for the club are clearly keen and committed, but you feel that they are going to have to turn a lot of things round or the future

Last night Ely took on Wroxham in a game that would go a long way to decide who would win the Eastern Counties League. It is a comment on just how far Ely have come this season that we are now considering them as possible Champions. We started the season hoping that they would pick up enough points to stay up, when that milestone was met we hoped for mid table security and the more recently we've been talking about top 3 and now we are considering them for the championship. Standing their way are Wroxham who had a chance to close the gap yesterday. The match started at a frantic speed and was played at a break neck speed for the whole 96 minutes that it lasted. Ely had a couple of decent chances at the start with Chadwick coming close from a long throw on 5 minutes and Wroxham goalkeeper Scott Howie made a fantastic save with his feet from Josh Bridgeman on 12. Ely were going to have to do better than that though to beat the best keeper in the league, who once cost Norwich City £30

Premier Division : League Table Ely City 31 21 7 3 66 38 +28 70 Wroxham 29 20 5 4 71 23 +48 65 Brantham Athletic 31 20 4 7 73 37 +36 64 Wisbech Town 29 18 3 8 65 41 +24 57 CRC 33 17 6 10 72 53 +19 57 Norwich United 31 15 7 9 44 34 +10 52 Dereham Town 30 16 3 11 56 42 +14 51 Stanway Rovers 30 15 4 11 60 43 +17 49 FC Clacton 29 15 4 10 57 46 +11 49 Mildenhall Town 31 14 5 12 61 51 +10 47 Haverhill Rovers 30 14 4 12 62 54 +8 46 Woodbridge Town 31 12 8 11 62 48 +14 44 Hadleigh United 32 12 5 15 60 66 -6 41 Gorleston 28 11 6 11 43 50 -7 39 Diss Town 31 10 7 14 30 41 -11 37 Felixstowe & Walton 30 10 6 14 54 51 +3 36 Kirkley & Pakefield 33 8 9 16 50 57 -7 33 Walsham 31 8

Ely are now 8 points clear at the top of the Eastern Counties League after some fine away wins at Newmarket and Hadleigh. Tonight they take on fellow contenders Wroxham at the Unwin.

Today Ely took on Great Yarmouth and with the visitors having let in 113 goals already this season I was expecting a big score for the Robins, but it didn't quite work out like that. Ely who seem to have two games a week for most of the rest of the season made a few changes and started with an unusual combination of Richard Gammon and Austin Diaper up front. It was clear from the start the way the game was going to go with Ely camping out in the Yarmouth half. Ely went into the lead on 13 minutes when Luke Parkinson swung a corner in and Ben Lawrence met it clearly on the edge of the 12 yard box and knocked it into the back of the net. It looked like this would probably be the first of many as Ely were crossing the ball in well and Great Yarmouth didn't look like they would be able to deal with it. In the few minutes that followed the opening goal Ely had several chances to increase their lead after a spot of head tennis from the forwards in the six yard box and then Sam Parkin