Today was ’Non League Day’, it was the first day of ‘Musa‘, Adam Murray’s, new haircut (very different), it was a day without a Parkinson playing (That’s not happened for a long time) it was the day that for the first time I saw a goalkeeper wearing glasses during the game (and he played very well indeed) but most of all it was the day ‘The Robins’ played Eynesbury Rovers in the first round of the FA Vase at the Unwin ground . I was also the first step on the road to Wembley !!!!!
It did not get off to a particularly good start as Darren Coe was a bit late with the first tackle of the match and the Ref showed him a yellow card. The early part of the game saw Eynesbury doing most of the attacking especially down the flanks with their two quick wide men and on 4 minutes Lee Pacey had to make a good save from the right and again on 10 minutes he made another from a header but this time the forward was given offside but ‘Pace’ did not know that at the time. Ely were relying on long ineffectual balls down the middle and not getting very far. The visitors were causing the most danger but Ely soaked up the pressure and came more into the game the longer it went on . On 25 minutes Taz Chisango got on to a long ball but was unable to control it as he neared goal, Chads, Richard Chadwick got the ball across from the left and it fell to ’Gammo’ Richard Gammon on the right but his fierce shot was well wide of the left post. A free kick on the edge of the Rovers box came to nothing then another free kick after the Eynesbury number 10 saw yellow but this was also eventually cleared. In the 39th minute the ball went out to ’Chads’, he threaded it into ’Porky’ , Andrew Claydon, and as he controlled the ball he was bundled over on the edge of the 6 yard box and the Ref awarded a penalty. Taz coolly dispatched the spot kick into the left hand corner of the net 1 - 0. The goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of the Eynesbury team and Ely put on more pressure and two minutes later they doubled their lead. Ben Lawrence took one of his trade mark long throws about 10 yards from the corner flag on the Ely right, ’Musa’ leapt highest and powered a header towards goal the keeper did well and got a hand on it pushing it on to the bar but ’Porky’ was the first to react and he was able to bundle the ball home 2 - 0 . Eynesbury went forward but were restricted to a couple of long range efforts and Ely ended the half with efforts from Taz and’Chads’
The start of the second half was delayed for 7 minutes when a rabbit hole was discovered on the edge of the 6 yard box at the Rugby Club end of the pitch. Mr Rabbit’s front door was soon blocked up by Bob and his bucket of earth and the game got underway again. The first 5 minutes saw Ely on the front foot and trying shots from the edge of the box . Taz’s pace was causing the visitors trouble and on 51 minutes an Eynesbury defender saw yellow for crudely bringing him down yet again. The resulting free kick was cleared quickly and ’Coey’ had to be alive to head back to ’Pace’ in the goal. Eynesbury then had a period when they were on top and Ely had to defend manfully. On 61 minutes ’Musa’ saw yellow for bringing down an opponent on the edge of the box but the free kick resulted in nothing. A minute later saw ’Coey’ heading a cross off the line at the back post. The 69th minute saw ’Gammo’ replaced by Josh Curry and ’Cus’ was straight in to the action with a fierce shot that was deflected just wide. The resulting corner saw Ben Lawrence rise highest but his header was just over the top. ’Porky’ managed to get the ball out wide and he laid it back to Josh Bridgeman on the edge of the box but his effort was blocked by a defender. The 74th minute saw Taz replaced by ’Tino’, Austin Diaper and he started with a sot from distance but it was wide. Eynesbury had a good chance in the 78th minute when the dangerous left winger got towards the bye line, his deep cross was put back into the centre only for the Eynesbury player to head well over when he could have done better. The 79th minute saw ’Chads’ replaced by Lewis MacDonald, ’Macca’. The last 10 minutes saw both sides starting to tire now having worked extremely hard on a warm sunny afternoon. Eynesbury to their credit did not give up and got into a good position inside the right hand corner of the box but the lad shot well wide. ’Macca’ got a good sot in from the left but the visiting keeper (in glasses) got down very well at the foot of his post to save. The last few minutes were played out and at the whistle it was to be ’The Robins’ who would fly into the hat for the next round.
This was a good game against a very good Eynesbury side that Matt Plumb can be proud of. The Ely boys did what they do well they worked very hard for each other and continued a good winning streak. We MUST keep this going and lets have a really good cup run. I am sure that that will bring some of the crowd back to the ’Unwin’ as today it was very sparse on the terraces. Come on lads it would be great to have a day out at the new Wembley and it is possible really.