Murray mint - Ely City 4 Thetford Town 1
Last night as well as Sean being the mascot at Ely V Thetford the Robins recorded a decent victory, unfortunately it was against Thetford and more or less sealed their relegation back to Division 1. The last couple of season we went to quite a few games at Thetford, but this was regrettably the first time I had seen them this season because the fixture list meant that their home games have clashed with Ely's. I only actually recognised the 2 Portuguese players, Valter Rocha and Bruno Tavares in the Thetford team, so things had definitely changed since the heady days of massive victories and promotions from last season.
Things looked ominous for Thetford from the start when Murray came close with a cheeky header from a Diaper shot in the first minute. However, it was the visitors who took the lead on 14 minutes when Parrish lobbed Pacey. Ely came back at Thetford though and just after the half hour mark Adam Murray, who was playing out of position up front, made a strong tackle in midfield and worked his way to the goal line before cutting in and crossing for Diaper to head home. The teams went in at the half on level terms, Ely were probably the stronger team but Thetford were scrapping for survival.
The game followed this pattern for the first 20 minutes of the second half with both teams attacking in turns, but neither threatening. Then on 68 minutes Luke Parkinson was introduced and his first job was to take a corner. The corner was met by Murray, who headed home to put the Robins 2-1 up. Ely could have put the game to bed 2 minutes later, but the chance was scuffed. It looked like they really might regret that miss as Rocha was starting to cause problems and on 76 minutes he hit the post. More disaster was to strike for Ely as David Wilson was about to go off injured and Ely had made all of their substitutions.
Murray, who had been majestic all night, was on hand to save the day though on 81 minutes a free kick from Parkinson bobbled up in front of the keeper and Murray was on hand to stab the ball home as the keeper was caught up and then on 83 minutes Murray was again in the thick of it as he set up Porky Claydon to make it 4-1 and send Thetford back over the border into Norfolk more than a bit demoralised.
Things looked ominous for Thetford from the start when Murray came close with a cheeky header from a Diaper shot in the first minute. However, it was the visitors who took the lead on 14 minutes when Parrish lobbed Pacey. Ely came back at Thetford though and just after the half hour mark Adam Murray, who was playing out of position up front, made a strong tackle in midfield and worked his way to the goal line before cutting in and crossing for Diaper to head home. The teams went in at the half on level terms, Ely were probably the stronger team but Thetford were scrapping for survival.
The game followed this pattern for the first 20 minutes of the second half with both teams attacking in turns, but neither threatening. Then on 68 minutes Luke Parkinson was introduced and his first job was to take a corner. The corner was met by Murray, who headed home to put the Robins 2-1 up. Ely could have put the game to bed 2 minutes later, but the chance was scuffed. It looked like they really might regret that miss as Rocha was starting to cause problems and on 76 minutes he hit the post. More disaster was to strike for Ely as David Wilson was about to go off injured and Ely had made all of their substitutions.
Murray, who had been majestic all night, was on hand to save the day though on 81 minutes a free kick from Parkinson bobbled up in front of the keeper and Murray was on hand to stab the ball home as the keeper was caught up and then on 83 minutes Murray was again in the thick of it as he set up Porky Claydon to make it 4-1 and send Thetford back over the border into Norfolk more than a bit demoralised.
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