football rambles

The pitch was heavy from the rain and the wind was strong in biting conditions down at the Unwin last week. There were no programmes, probably under the assumption the game wouldn't go ahead. Ely clearly weren't in the right frame of mind from the outset with Debnham taking the lead from a free kick as early as 2 minutes. Ely fought back and a cross from Jamie Alsop levelled the scores on 15 minutes. The Robins weren't ahead for long though as the visitors went down the other end after the centre and scored another goal to reclaim the lead. The rest of the half saw Ely getting frustrated and both sides had chances, Ely probably had the lion's share, but the sides went in at the break with Debnham in the lead.  Ely looked a lot more resolute in the second half and were helped by playing with the wind rather than against it. Seymour knocked one into the top corner on 63 minutes from a set piece before Nathan Littlefair scored his first goal for the club. What a vital goal

On Saturday it was back to the somewhat less iconic surroundings of the Unwin Ground to see Ely City take on Braintree Reserves. It might not have been as grand as Dortmund, but we were treated to another goal fest. Braintree came into the game with some decent form, but this was to be one of the most one sided games I've seen and the visitors were actually flattered by the score. In the opening few minutes Seymour hit the woodwork and Simpson and Theobold came close before the Robins took the lead on 10 minutes when Theobold latched on to a defensive error to break the deadlock. The Robins carried on and Theobold hit the woodwork this time with Seymour and Simpson again coming close before Simpson carried on his fine goal scoring form to make it 2-0 on 40 minutes. In the second half Braintree dug in a bit, but on 69 minutes an Alsop free kick alluded everyone and squeezed into the goal. Simpson then got another one with a 25 yard lob before Braintree scored the goal of the match.