Ely Happy With A Draw : Ely City Football Club A-Team

Ely had a weakened team thanks to the early kick off of 6:15pm. Absenses from Wayne Holden (first 8weeks), Neil McKnight, Rob and Andrew Smart, Paul Brown, Steven Pollard to name a few few. Chris Lupson was brought in from the reserves to strengthen the team and Simon Farrow also joined us.

The weather was warm and the players tired and the game was tight for the first half an hour. It was March that broke the deadlock when a bobble meant Gareth Arter, temporary goalkeeper for the night, pushed the ball on to the post and into the path of an on coming March striker.

Ely kept pushing and it was a kick from Gareth that was flicked on by Jamie Gayfer to put Stuart Seekings through on goal with a difficult one on one, which he calmly lobbed over the keeper and in to the back of the net. With spirits high, Ely were closing down every ball. It Stuart Seekings again that closed down March's number 5, pressuring him in to making a mistake, finding himself one on one with the keeper again... 2-1 Ely.

The second half was tiring and Ely felt that most of the decisions were going against them, with some obvious hand balls and niggles going unseen, However March did have a good penalty shout turned down. With 15mins left March were awarded a free kick, in a not so dangerous position. Unfortunately the attempted cross managed to float over the Gareth and straight into the net, reminiscent of Ronaldinho and Dave Seaman.

Stuart McGuire was replaced by Matt Brodie, who nearly made an quick impact on the game. Jules Peachy who replaced Lewis Peacock was almost gifted a goal when a cross/shot whizzed past. The defense looked fairly solid if not a little worse for wears.

The game finished 2-2 which Ely felt a little hard done by but a fair result at the end of the day.