football rambles

Last night Ely took on Bugbrooke St.Michael's in the FA Cup. After reportedly being unlucky to win on Saturday we had hoped that they could finish off the job last night. Things were to go differently to how we had hoped though. Ely started off brightly enough, but it was Bugbrooke who created the first chance on 10 minutes when they missed an absolute sitter. Ely came back though and on 12 minutes Josh Curry hit the bar. On 17 minutes Chadders came close, but this time the ball went just over. It was Bugbrooke who took the lead though when on 21 minutes a looping header caught Pacey out and the Badgers went one up. Bugbrooke almost came close to doubling their lead just one minute later, but this time Pacey saved brilliantly to deny the visitors. For the rest of the half Ely battled for the equaliser, but never really came close to equalising. In fact Bugbrooke came closest in the last minute of the half when they again missed a real sitter. Ely started the second half s

The South East Combination is the women's league that Cambridge Women who have recently settled at Ely's Unwin ground play in. The league is at the fourth level of women's football and is one of four combination leagues. The others being the South West, Midlands and Northern. The league which was formed in 1998 feeds directly into the Premier League Southern Division. The South East Combination is fed into by the Eastern Region League and the London and South East League. The league is made up of 12 clubs. Along with Crystal Palace and Cambridge who we saw yesterday there are 10 other clubs: Arlesey Town, Brentwood Town, Chesham United, Chichester City, Ebbsfleet United, Enfield Town, Ipswich Town, Luton Town, MK Dons and Norwich City. Last year's champions were Lewes LFC and the first club tom win the league were Wembley Mill Hill who have since merged with QPR. Of the teams currently playing in the league 4 have won the league before: Enfield in 2002; Crystal Pal

Ely City drew in the FA Cup with Bugbrooke St. Michael's on Saturday, so they've got a replay against Bugbrooke tomorrow night. Despite having a twee name that would sound more at home in a Beatrix Potter book and a badge to match, as well as playing at a ground with a name to match, Bird's Close, the Badgers are an ambitious outfit. Last season they finished 3rd in the United Counties League Division 1 and will be hoping for promotion this time out. They have also had a few good runs in the cup having got to the first round of the FA Vase in 200-2001 and getting to the second round in 2009-2010. Other than that I can't really find out much about the club, apart from the fact that they were formed in 1929. Another question that needs to be asked is why does a team nicknamed the Badgers wear yellow and blue.

Cambridge Players just before kick off View of the game with the cathedral in the background. Cambridge corner in the first half. Another photo from the second half. Cambridge corner in the second half. This one went just over the bar.

Yesterday Cambridge Women took on Crystal Palace Women at the Unwin Ground. After losing the possibility to play at the Cambridge Stadium the women's football team decided to move to Ely and they played their first game there yesterday. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but the sun was shining and was in sharp contrast to the thunderstorms of the day before, but it was free to get in, so there can be no complaints there. Unfortunately there wasn't much of a crowd, but with it being a bank holiday weekend and there being a distinct lack of publicity maybe things will pick up on the attendance front as the season progresses. Both teams went into the game on the back of defeats. Cambridge had lost 4-2 to MK Dons previously and Palace had suffered a 9-1 defeat at the hands of Chesham, so it looked like we were going to be in for some goals. We weren't disappointed either as Cambridge took a 1-0 lead in the first minute after making the most of a poor clearance by the

Today was an FA Cup day, but as Ely were handed an away match on the other side of Northampton we decided to stay in the Eastern Counties League with a match at the Abbey Stadium between CRC and Mildenhall. The game started off with some bad weather, but was clear enough for the first couple of minutes. However for the first 10 minutes or so, the weather got worse .... ... and worse for the first 10 minutes. We did get a bit of a rest bite from the weather though and Mildenhall seemed to settle into the game first of all. On 13 minutes they wasted a gilt-edged chance, but the greasy pitch could have been to blame for this. CRC came back at them and had a decent chance on 18 minutes, but Pope in the Mildenhall goal was as always on excellent form. For the first 35 minutes Hall had the better chances, but were often caught offside. CRC on the other hand looked skilled, but often gave the ball away cheaply when in the Hall half. How the game would have played out though we won&#

Last night Ely took on Godmanchester Rovers and again it was a disappointing game. Ely are finding it hard to regain the form that they hit last season and the performance was more on a par with the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 seasons when the midfield seemed to lack creativity, the defence was prone to mistakes and the goals tended to come from Ben Lawrence throws into the box. This comes as a bit of a surprise as the basis of last season's team are still at the club and if anything they have managed to add some quality to the ranks. One noticeable absentee last night though was Adam Murray, who has formed a good central defensive partnership with Ben Lawrence over the last two seasons. As most of Godmanchester's attacks tended to go down the middle it is a worry that Murray, who was actually at the ground, has been linked with a move to Kettering. The game started quite slowly, but after 10 minutes it was Ely who looked the livelier of the two teams. However, despite being the

Tonight Ely City take on Godmanchester Rovers in the Eastern Counties League. Both teams have played 3 games so far this season and both of them are looking for a first league win of the season. Godmanchester are enjoying their first season at this level after pipping Thetford to first place in the first division last season. In fact the game between the 2 last season, which more or less sealed their place in the premier division saw a record crowd of 150 at Bearscroft Lane. As you can imagine from that record attendance Godmanchester are one of the minnows of the league. The first record of the team was in 1928-29 when the club won the Hunts Junior Cup. They spent most of their formative years in the Huntingdonshire League which they won in 1989. They then went on to win it again in 1992 and were promoted to the Cambridgeshire League's top division. They also won the league's cup in 1995 and 1996, before being relegated to Senior A of the Cambs League in 2000. They were

A couple more from Sean's collection. Ely on the attack in the second half. Josh Curry and Luke Parkinson of Ely City.

The photos in the match report were both taken by Sean and here are a collection of some of his others. A couple of midfield battles. Pacey is forced into a rare piece of the action in this game. Ely's goalmouth Corinthians on the ball before things went wrong for them.

Today Ely City took on Rothwell Corinthians of the United Counties in the Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup. I don't imagine that the Robins will make it to the final, but a good run in the cup competitions always makes for an interesting season, so it was good to see Ely negotiate the first hurdle. Ely got off to a great start as on 4 minutes a clever flick on by Richard Chadwick and then a decent pass from Andrew Claydon saw Lewis Thompson put the Robins 1-0 up. Ely had plenty of other chances to increase their lead with Claydon shooting just over when clear through on 8 minutes and Chadwick having a shot cleared off the line on 11. Things started to even out though and most of the next 20 minutes were played out in the middle of the field. Around the half hour mark the visitors had a flurry of corners that Ely did well to defend. Just after this David Wilson (number 6 below) hobbled off the pitch and was replaced by Richard Gammon. Fortunately, it seems that he only has a

Today I have been looking at the fixtures for the season ahead and as I also wanted to try out my new tablet I thought that I would have a look at the prospects of the clubs I will be following. I have to admit that this post is a little late as the Eastern Counties has already got under way.  Anyway here goes with what I think can be expected from the season. Ely City Last time out the Robins were the surprise package in the Eastern Counties. They finished second and won the county cup despite having a fairly small budget and got through on some amazing team spirit. It's not going to be so easy this time out, but I am hoping for a top six finish. Thetford Town After a fantastic season in the first division of the Eastern Counties Thetford will be with Ely in the top division of the league. I think that a mid table finish should be in their grasp.  You might expect them to have a bit of momentum going into the new season,but they have lost a couple of players and there are a

It might be two weeks still before most of the football gets under way, but yesterday saw the Step 5 teams kick off their season and I was at Ely City's opening game against Kirkley & Pakefield. Last season Ely finished runners-up and will be looking for a top 6 finish this season after adding to the squad that did so well last year. That said Kirkley & Pakefield always prove to be strong opposition and I think that Gorleston and Wisbech are going to be the sides to beat this year, with Brantham also looking worth a punt after the way they improved in the second half of last season. K & P did prove to be strong opposition, but it's always hard to tell what the season holds early on with players still coming up to full fitness, being on holiday and new players getting used to their new clubs. Like in most of the matches played in the Eastern Counties Premier yesterday the game ended in a draw; Gorleston, Norwich United and Brantham being the only sided to get 3

Last night Villa went to London Road for their 3rd friendly with Peterborough at their stadium in 4 years. As usual I turned up way to early and the first disappointment was that Posh have been forced into closing their away terracing, so we had to go in the seats. Luckily though everything else went well. Before the match we saw the Villa players turning up and met a few of the Peterborough players. Sean got the autographs of Lee Tomlin, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Michael Bostwick. Villa had a decent following for a mid week game, especially with the number of friendlies coming up before the season. In the first half we sat above one of the exits, but we were quickly joined by some of the moaning Villa fans that the club is famous for. The second half we were sat at the front and it was unfortunate that I didn't take the camera as we were right on the touchline with a great view. Villa put out a team that mixed the youth and a few of the old hands with Shay Given, Stephen Ir