football rambles

After what was probably the best performance of the season at Felixstowe, Ely put in what was perhaps the worst performance of what has been in general a poor season. In just the third minute Godmanchester beat the Ely offside trap and instead of playing to the whistle the defence froze and Godmanchester were 1-0 up. After 10 minutes the game already seemed to be slipping away from Ely when Godmanchester doubled their lead, this time with a well worked team goal and a well taken volley. For the rest of the half Ely were chasing the game, but the long ball pumped up front looked a little unimaginative. Ely did finally get a lifeline though in the 43rd minute when a corner from Townshend caused problems in the box and somehow went in with Austen Diaper apparently getting the last touch. So Ely went in at halftime still in with a chance. For most of the second half Ely were fighting to get back in the game and Godmanchester seemed fairly confident that they could hold on without t

We went to Felixstowe expecting a good day out and as you can see from the previous posts we definitely had that. We didn't expect any result though. Felixstowe going into the game were second in the league, after other results went their way they are now top. Ely's season has been well documented as a bit of a disappointment on this blog. We used to think that the blue away kit was cursed, but there is now a wide feeling that the claret home shirt that replaced the traditional red at the start of this season is cursed, so we for once were glad to see in Ely in the change strip of all blue. Ely also came into the game on the back of two wins, but are still threatened with relegation, and Felixstowe were always going to be a tougher test. There was clearly a difference in styles with Felixstowe looking to play the ball around whereas the Robins went for a more direct approach. The direct approach seemed to be working though with the visitors starting off the stronger team. T

You have to admire a team that has red and white striped goals like Bayern Munich and Felixstowe and Walton United. A picture of the dugouts. The match day programme, unlike most clubs at this level it's a full colour affair rather than the colour cover with black and white insert that most clubs have. It still has dodgy resized pictures and clip art though.

Felixstowe's Goldstar Ground is a funny old place for quite a young team. They are currently top of the league and although I like the place you can see why they didn't put in for promotion. To get into the ground there is a walled off pitch you have to go past the cricket pavilion a few hundred yards away. The players also change in the pavilion. Inside the pavilion is also the clubhouse, which is reasonably priced and has one of the biggest badges I have ever seen over it. Once inside the fenced off ground there is one covered terrace and one small stand. The toilet is a porterloo. Still, it's a good place to watch football and they clearly have a good team at the moment. The town is also a pretty nice place to visit.

Yesterday we had a trip out to the seaside to see top of the table Felixstowe and Walton United take on Ely City. Here is a picture of a view of Felixstowe's beach and a robin that accosted us in the gardens there during the big day out.

Alconbury in white, Red Lodge in dark blue.

On Thursday we were back down the Unwin for Red Lodge against Alconbury. Red Lodge went into the game as favourites being top of their league and the cup holders. We naturally therefore decided to support Alconbury and parked ourselves behind the Red Lodge keeper. Red Lodge started off the brighter of the two teams and came close to a goal in the opening few minutes. As the game settled down a bit though, Alconbury were the first to really settle. Alconbury had most of the best chances and came close a couple of times. Red Lodge meanwhile looked dangerous on the counterattack. It was Alconbury who took the lead on 43 minutes when a cross was met and the keeper was given no chance. The lead was pretty short-lived though, as Red Lodge rather undeservedly got an equaliser on the stroke of half time to make it level at the break. Whatever the Red lodge manager said at half time seemed to do the trick though, as they came out firing on all cylinders and took the lead in the first minute

On Wednesday we were at the Unwin to see the reserves take on local rivals Chatteris. We got some golden goal tickets when we entered the ground, but we were soon disappointed. Our lowest time was 27 minutes, but the Robins took the lead on just 3 when Dean Salmons put the home team ahead. We might have been a bit disappointed by the golden goal, but it was definitely good to see an Ely team actually winning at the Unwin. Ely were pretty much in complete control of the game and on 22 minutes they increased the lead when sustained pressure led to Chatteris putting the ball into their own goal. Ely failed to increase their lead, but never looked anything less than comfortable. The game finished 2-0 and it was a well deserved win for the reserves.

It's that time of the season when the games usually come thick and fast. This season is going a little slower than other seasons though, mainly due to a mild winter and the fact that the local teams haven't put together any decent cup runs. Last Wednesday and Thursday though we managed to get to a couple of games at the Unwin though with Ely Reserves taking on Chatteris on Wednesday and then the final of the John Ablett Cup on Thursday where Red Lodge tried to win the trophy for the second season running when they took on Alconbury.