T’was just a few days before Christmas, and all was quiet as the ‘Robins’ arrived at Bethlehem, sorry Bethnal Green. The team were about to produce a wonderful Christmas present for all at Ely City FC, a 3 - 1 win to take us into the 4th round of the FA Vase.
On a dampish Saturday afternoon, the boys coached it down the M11, through the road accidents to arrive at The Mile End Stadium. In the borough of Tower Hamlets, in the shadow of the huge Canary Wharf , Docklands, Finance buildings and under a very noisy Heathrow flight path The Robins worked their socks off to get the right result. The pitch was very very heavy due to all the rain and frost but very green. Unfortunately the crowd (official number 44, of which at least 23, minimum, were from Ely ) were a long way from the action. There was an Olympic style running track round the pitch that had been used by the USA athletics team during London 2012. This was a good stadium but as I say, the pitch was a long way from the crowd, so much so that one Ely supporter was screaming goal when the ball was well wide (Oops she told me not to mention that …sorry K).
Bethnal Green United are a fairly young club having only been formed in the year 2000 but they have done very well in such a short time. They have progressed to the Premier Division of the Essex Senior League and last season they reached the last 16 of this competition, the FA Vase only going out then, to the eventual winners, They also had a striker who had already won their Leagues golden boot scoring 30 goals in a season Against this team and in the prevailing conditions it was obvious that this was to be a very hard match, and so it would prove to be.
The game started and it was Bethnal who had the first shot on goal, but it was high and wide. Ely had the first free kick but that sailed into the Bethnal box much to close to their keeper who dealt with it easily. He, in fact, was to be in excellent form all afternoon and made some great saves throughout. Bethnal then managed to get through the middle and Ely’s Lee Pacey also in very good form, had to dive at a forwards feet to collect the ball. Ely got the first corner of the afternoon after 5 minutes, but it was a poor delivery. The clearance was also poor going straight to Austen Diaper, 25 yards out, but his fierce shot was wide. The next 10 minutes saw Ely pressure, but unfortunately the end product was poor with free kicks, corners and shots really failing to cause the Bethnal keeper any serious trouble.
All this was to change in the 17th minute. A long ball was pumped towards the left hand corner, it should have been dealt reasonably easily by the defender, but Andrew Claydon, never one to give up lost causes, had other ideas. He got to the defender and got in a tackle, the defender lost his footing on the tricky surface (as a number of players would do through the afternoon) and ‘Porky’ was able to come away with the ball, with the Bethnal defence in a muddle, Porky drew the keeper and was able to slip the ball to the unmarked Richard Chadwick. ‘Chads’ was free to side foot the ball into the net past a desperate keeper and defender. 1 - 0
Ely continued to be on top and two minutes later Luke Parkinson had a great run down the left wing, he got to the bye line, then as he cut back he shot rather than cross and the keeper did very well to save, with his legs, at the bottom of the left hand upright. Bethnal then made a substitution on 22 minutes and from that point they were the ones doing the pressing. Straight away a ball in from the right saw ’Pace’ having to make a brave save in the middle of flying feet. On 26 minutes they were still going forward, this time, again from down the right, in came a fierce cross cum shot. ’Pace’ dived across his goal and got his hand to the ball, unfortunately it dropped to a player in the Bethnal green and he forced the ball home, past Lee’s desperate efforts to regain it, from 2 yards. All the Ely players were appealing for offside but the Ref. let the goal stand. 1 - 1
Ely were not to be outdone and virtually straight from the kick off they restored their lead. The ball went out to Luke Parkinson on the left. He made a mazy run down the line and got to the bye line before delivering a deep cross beyond the far post. ’Tino’ Diaper came in from the right and was able to fire a great shot into the net just inside the upright 2 - 1
The next 15 minutes saw both sides trying to push on, mainly down the wings but unfortunately the quality of crosses from both sides was not great, from either open play or set pieces. Porky had one good spin and shot but it was straight at the keeper and Adam Murray had a header from a corner but it was just wide. A lot of hard work in the middle of the park in the heavy conditions was taking its toll on the legs and so we saw a number of passes going astray and the half finished without any addition to the score.
The second period started and it was the hosts who went on the attack. In the 47th minute they attacked down the left and the ball was crossed well to the right hand side of the pitch, this was then fiercely struck towards goal and brought a very good save from ‘Pace’ in the Ely goal. As the ball was being cleared it twice fell to Bethnal players who shots,, but both times Ely players managed to get a block in before the ball was cleared up field and the danger subsided. A couple of minutes later more trouble, the striker found himself in the clear in the middle, as he advanced on goal ‘Pace came out and the lad fired wide of the post when he should really have done better. A big let off for the ‘Robins’, but on 53 minutes Bethnal did get the ball in the net only for the attacker to be ruled offside. This seemed to wake the Ely team up and they started to put some pressure on Bethnal. A corner from the left saw a good shot on the turn from ‘Porky’ and a great shot from ‘Chads’ brought a flying save from the home keeper. This pressure was just about to prove fruitful. In the 56th minute Luke Parkinson was again able to get down to the bye line on the left and as he drilled the ball in towards the near post ‘Porky was there and able to force the ball home with his thigh. 3 - 1
Ely were in the ascendancy and going forward and this led to a number of set pieces, ‘Musa’ had a good header saved and also there were some scrambles round the edge of the Bethnal box. On 65 minutes ‘Porky’ was brought down just inside the Bethnal half, the free kick led to another Ely header that saw the hosts keeper bring off another great save, right under the angle of the bar and post. A couple of minutes later, again from a corner, another header but this time straight at the home keeper. On 72 minutes we saw the welcome return of Dave Smith as he came on for a very very hard working Josh Curry. This was to be Dave’s first game for the team since being injured in a pre-season game. (Nice to have you back Dave) Bethnal now tried to get back in it, they forced a couple of corners and tried to apply pressure. ‘Chads was replaced by Nick Impey on 78 minutes. Bethnal were reduced to shooting from distance but these were high and wide. Both teams were tiring now and both struggling to keep the ball. On 86 minutes Porky was replaced by Richard Gammon. Bethnal kept going forward and another shot went over the bar before yet another was cleared from near the goal line by the Ely defence. In the 92nd minute Josh Bridgeman nicked the ball off a home player, advanced, before playing ‘Imps’ in, he advanced at pace but as the home keeper advanced on him, Nick’s shot went just wide of the upright. One more minute saw the Ref. bring proceedings to an end.
To a great cheer from the travelling Ely supporters. A very tired, but very happy team had all worked very hard to bring about a great result in difficult conditions.
A very happy coach drove safely back, down the M11 with all looking forward to a heavy and difficult holiday schedule . Then January and its bring on the ‘Tulips’ for round four, we are ready for you. The Wembley dream lives on and on.