A blustery Tuesday night at ‘The Unwin’ and at last, after two postponements, the 4th round FA Vase game against ‘The Tulips’, Spalding United, can take place. They arrive with a reputation as a very good, strong team, having players with football league experience. They are currently in 2nd place in their league with games in hand. This was the furthest ‘The Robins’ had ever got in this competition and wanted to go on to greater heights. Tonight they would be without the Parky brothers on the left due to suspension and Liam Bolton was cup-tied. This saw Ben Lawrence start at left back and Nick Impey left side of midfield, Austen Diaper right and the two Josh’s, Curry and Bridgeman in the centre.
A reasonable crowd of 212 were in and would be treated to an entertaining Cup match. Because of all the rain and snow it was a very heavy, bumpy, strength-sapping pitch. There was a strong wind blowing, straight down the ground. ‘The Robins’ kicked off with the Downham Road behind them and the wind in their faces but showed intent straight away. In the first minute a back pass to the Spalding keeper saw ‘Tino’ Diaper quick of the mark and charge the keepers kick. The ball looped up into the air and a defender had to put the ball out for a corner. Unfortunately the corner kick was, like a lot of other set pieces during the evening, not very good, and was dealt with easily. ‘The Tulips’ seemed to want to hit long balls to quick forwards but they were either over-hit or mopped up easily by the Ely defenders. The early stages saw ‘The Robins’ well on top. In the 5th minute Darren Coe met a high ball in the centre circle, he headed it forward and kept on running. The effervescence ‘Tino’ took the pass and laid a return into ‘Coeys’ path. He made ground into the box but he was unable to get a decent shot away due to the state of the ground and the keeper was able to save easily. A minute later ‘Tino’ again, a long clearance from Lee Pacey was headed on by Richard Chadwick out to the right. Tino collected the ball and loosed off a first time shot that scraped the top of the bar. It was all Ely, Josh B hit a good pass out to Chads on the left , he cut in and fired across the keeper but was wide of the right hand upright.. On 8 minutes another corner on the right, and this time Ben Lawrence got his head to it but it was well over the bar.
All this pressure was about to pay off, in the 10th minute Ely were to take the lead. Nick Impey brought a high ball down very well, he was just inside the visitors half, he beat a defender then forced the ball forward to Andrew Claydon. ’Porky’ held it up well and then laid it out to the left flank to ’Chads’. He moved forward and put in a deep cross finding ‘Tino’, 15 yards out and level with the back post. ’Tino’ took the ball down on his chest, swivelled and shot low past the keeper into the bottom of the Spalding net 1 - 0
Ely’s celebrations were short lived as it was seen that Darren Coe was down injured After a couple of minutes treatment on the pitch he was helped off but it looked serious. On the restart Ely played with 10 men for a while before Coey hobbled back on, but his match would be short lived. The injury and going behind brought ’The Tulips’ to life and they exerted pressure mainly down the flanks. On 22 minutes the ball came in from the left and Spalding’s Nightingale powered a header goal-wards but ’Pace’ was alert and managed to tip it over the bar. With Coey barely able to hobble the defence was looking less assured now and they gave away a couple of free kicks in dangerous areas but theses came to nothing. It was no surprise when on 28 minutes ’Coey’ was substituted. Kenny Smith came on, he went to left back with Ben Lawrence moving to central defence. This change unsettled things, taking time to get sorted and Spalding were able to take even more control. On 30 minutes they were awarded a free kick out on the right, as it came in an attacker got to it but his shot came back off an Ely player, centrally and towards the edge of the box. Spalding’s captain, Canoville, a man with a lot of football league experience, came across the from the left, got to the ball first and fired a shot well wide, then stumbled across ‘Porkys’ outstretched leg. The Referee blew for a penalty this was a very soft penalty indeed. There were strong protests from all the Ely players but the decision stood. Spalding’s King took the spot kick hitting it to ‘Paces’ right and although he got a hand to it there was too much power on it and it nestled into the net 1 - 1.
Spalding were now over the moon and continued to press and a minute later were shouting for another penalty when Kenny Smith and an attacker tumbled to the ground but this time the Ref got it right and waved play on. It was then the turn of Drury in the visitors goal to make a smart save to keep out a good effort from ‘Chads’ On 34 minutes it got even worse for ‘The Robins’ A Spalding defender collected the ball on the halfway line out to the right, he pumped it forward to the right hand angle of the penalty box. It looked fairly innocuous but Ben Lawrence slipped going towards it and Kenny Smith missed the bounce of it and it spun into the box. Spalding’s King ran in behind them and just managed to get a touch on to it. This deflected it past the onrushing ’Pace’ and it rolled into the net 1 - 2.
On 35 minutes Chris Sterecki saw yellow for a tackle (even though the player he tackled was being flagged offside but the Ref took no notice of his Assistant and this was one of a number of strange decisions this Ref gave against both teams) Ely put a lot of pressure on the visitors in the last minutes of the half. A good move down the left saw ‘Porky’ hit a shot but it high. ‘Tino’ then got in another shot from the right but it was wide of the upright. Josh B got into the box and was crunched late but the Ref waved away the protests (If the one at the other end was a pen. This was a stonewalled, no consistency from a Ref -- again!!!) The resulting corner saw the Ely player going for the header sent flying but again nothing given. Ely ended the half where they started on top but ---- 2 - 1 down.
Ely started the half and straight away ‘Tino’ had a shot on goal but it was wide. Both sides worked hard but the defences were in control for the first 15 minutes but gradually Ely were getting the upper hand and a ’Porky’ Claydon shot just whistled wide of the post. On 69 minutes Adam Murray saw yellow after a tackle. Three minutes later Ely played a ball behind the defence on the right ’Porky’ latched on to it and drove into the box before firing in a fierce shot but Drury in the visitors goal did well to get a hand to it and push it over the bar. On 75 minutes ’Imps’ came off and was replaced by Taz Chisango, Chads moved to the left and Taz was to play down the middle. Spalding had a good chance on 80 minutes when the Ely defence failed to cut out a bouncing ball and visiting player got the ball moved into the box at speed but ’Pace’ was able to save with his legs as he came out to narrow the angle.. Then it was Ely’s turn, from a free kick Porky was able to hit a powerful shot that the keeper did well to parry low down., the rebound came out to Ben Lawrence who turned and hit a shot goal wards but a Spalding defender standing on the goal-line was able to hack it away. A couple more minutes and another Ben Lawrence long throw into the box, the keeper spilled it, it fell to Taz who poked it goal wards only to see it strike the bottom of the post and rebound into the keepers arms. It obviously wasn’t going to be. In fact it looked as it would get worse, on 87 minutes Josh B tried to hit a cross field pass in his own half, it fell short straight at the feet of a Spalding player. He made ground into the box Ben Lawrence found a turn of speed to put pressure on him as he shot and ’Pace’ was able to pull off a good smothering save and turn it away for a corner. The Referee indicated 5 extra minutes of time with both teams still trying to get forward. On 93 minutes Richard Gammon came on for Josh C but there was little he could do and the final whistle was blown
It was a very good cup-tie and ’The Robins’ were probably very unlucky not to get something out of the result. The team worked hard in difficult conditions and although the team has played little or no football for some time they all did the Club proud. There is still a long way to go in the season