football rambles

Yesterday Ely took on Histon in the 3rd match in their pre-season programme. In the first match they played well and dominated against Huntingdon, but only managed a draw. Then next up was Deeping Rangers, who they played poorly against and lost and then last night they welcomed Histon, who unlike Huntingdon and Deeping don't play at the same level, but at 3 leagues higher so it was interesting to see how they would perform against a team from a higher level. Ely had a much more familiar feel to them and fielded a team who apart from the right back, who had signed from CRC and a midfielder recently signed from Wisbech was made up of familiar faces from last season. Impey and Strecki had gone off on holiday to Ibiza, but Taz, who had, it was rumoured signed for Soham was given a rare start on the wing. Ely lost the game 1-0, but the performance was much better, and although I don't think anyone would argue that they deserved to win it they held their own against their more i

Yesterday Ely City took on Deeping Rangers in their second pre-season friendly. Ely were missing several regulars and as well as blooding several new players they also called on a few members of the reserves to swell the ranks, so apart from Chris Sterecki, Adam Murray (who instead of Centre-half was playing up front), Lee Pacey and Ben Lawrence there weren't many familiar faces in the team. One other face who might become familiar is Paul Clayton, who in the report of the previous game was known as Norwich bloke. For once though the sun was shining, although unlike half the insect life in East Anglia the fans hadn't exactly swarmed to the Unwin. Ely started off as badly as they did on Tuesday against Huntingdon when on 3 minutes the visitors were ahead from a curling header. Unlike on Tuesday Ely couldn't respond straight away, although Adam Murray should have put the Robins on level terms on 6 minutes when he was fed a pass by Clayton. This seemed to spur Ely on and li

After the Huntingdon game next up for Ely in pre-season is another club from their sister league United Counties and it is another relatively new club who have their roots in Sunday football. This time the Unwin Ground welcomes Deeping Rangers from Market Deeping in Lincolnshire. Rangers began life in the Peterborough Sunday league in 1964, but moved to one of the city's Saturday leagues 2 years later. They moved to their present ground, Outgang Road in 1985 after missing out on promotion due to inadequate facilities. After a few more years in the Peterborough League they won promotion to the United Counties in 1999. This side included a couple of players who went on to bigger things, Malcolm Christie who played for Middlesbrough and Derby and Ben Wright, who as well as playing in the league for Lincoln represented Viking Stavanger in the UEFA Cup. Rangers almost pulled off a second promotion in a row in their first season in the United Counties, but they eventually finished t

Last night Ely took on Huntingdon in their first pre-season game ahead of the new season. The good news is that the Robins seem to have been able to keep the players who formed the successful team of last season and there were a couple of new players who if they sign on will give the club more options. Things didn't get off to a good start though and Huntingdon beat a poorly executed offside trap after only 5 minutes to take the lead. That didn't last too long though, as just a minute later a great pass from Nick Impey put Luke Parkinson clear on goal and the teams were back on level terms. One of the areas where Ely could perhaps have been better last season was in front of goal, as despite finishing second they had a goal scoring ratio that would have been more suitable for a mid-table club. Last night they had a forward on trial from Norwich United and Richard Gammon, who looked a lot more lively than when he was given a chance up front last season, starting in the forwa

Tomorrow Ely City should be getting their pre-season started with a fixture against Huntingdon Town. I say should be as the torrential rain means that even now in mid-July there is a chance that the fixture will be off. Huntingdon Town were promoted to Step 5 at the end of last season when they moved up a division in the United Counties League from Division 1 to the Premier Division. This will be the highest league that the Croms have ever played in. Although there was a Huntingdon Town team at the end of the 19th Century, a team that won the Huntingdonshire Cup 11 times before World War I, the current club goes back only as far as 1980. Another club that was a merger between the original Huntingdon Town and Huntingdon Wanderers was formed in 1948 as Huntingdon United and Huntingdon United RGE who were formed in 2005 and play in the Cambridgeshire League claim the heritage of this club. The current Huntingdon Town club were formed in 1980 as Montagu. They originally played in th

Yesterday we made the trip up to the Walks for the first pre-season fixture of the period when Lynn took on Wisbech in what can only be described as one of the tastiest Derby matches. Over 450 people turned up for a game that was a hastily arranged game, which shows how important the fixture is locally. Lynn have recently been promoted to Step 4 and will play in the Northern Premier League Souther Division after 2 successful seasons in the United Counties League, whereas Wisbech will be playing in the Eastern Counties at Step 5 after finishing 4th in that league last year. It will be interesting to see how both clubs get on, as Wisbech have their eyes fixed on promotion and have strengthened the team with signings such as Chris Bacon who used to play for Lynn and Dubi Ogbonna of Soham Town Rangers fame. Both of these players could play at a higher level, but probably don't fancy having to travel too much. Conversely Lynn have seen their preparations put back with the club represe

Well, it almost feels like the Summer has ended without starting, as football is back on the agenda. It was never really off the agenda though as there was Euro 2012, which I enjoyed, but having to endure photos from my friends in Ukraine at several high profile games and with some of the world's star footballers, e.g 'here's me with Pirlo' 'here's me with Ronaldo', etc. was a bit hard. I mean fair play to them they deserve it after years of following Ukrainian football, I only wished that I had been there. Instead I spent most of the Summer examining on Saturdays, which was just as well as the weather was too crap to consider a trip to the beach. I wouldn't have minded, but I still seem to be skint despite all that extra work. Anyway, the football was back yesterday when King's Lynn took on their great rivals Wisbech in a 'friendly' at the Walks.