Ely City secured their first win in over a month as they cruised past Kirkley & Pakefield 3-0 at home.
After a relatively quiet first half, Ashley Walter and Sam Reed got their names on the scoresheet within minutes of the second period, whilst Alex Theobald nabbed his fourteenth goal of the season in the 70th minute.

A slow start to the first half was quickly forgotten about in the 19th minute when the Robins came painfully close to scoring, hitting the post twice. Some beautiful wing play by Kelvin Enaro had the winger eventually whip in a cross straight onto the head of Theobald, a leaping header left the ball hitting the inside of the right post, creeping across the goal-line.The Royals could only clear the ball to just outside their own six-yard box, when it landed at the feet of George Darling. Smashing it on the half volley, the ball crashed straight onto the inside of left post! Only to this time be cleared for good by the Royals defence.
Ten minute later and Pakefield had their own chance that ultimately went gaping. Jack Smith played in striker Nathan Stone, who had lacked support up top the whole day, after passing the Robins defence he just had shot stopper Harry Reynolds to beat. Running it to close to Reynolds, Stone could only attempt to poke it under the keeper, however the ball edged just wide, and both teams remained goalless at the break.

It didn’t take much to improve on a dull first half, but even Ely themselves must have been shocked at how quick they were off the blocks.
Just two minutes played, a slip from Royals right-back Tarren Grint allowed Reed to break down the by-line. He sent in a low cross straight to the feet of Theobald, but the striker scuffed his shot. Luckily, the acting captain for the day Ashley Walter was there to drive the ball home and it was advantage Ely.
Less than five minutes after the deadlock was broken, the Robins had doubled their lead. A lofted ball in by Craig Neal, who replaced usual left-back and captain Jamie Alsop for the day, seemed to be directed straight towards the hands of Royals keeper Adam Rix.
However, the goalie fumbled it, and Sam Reed was there to poke the ball home into an empty net from ten yards out, and secure his first goal for the club.
Following these goals which came out of nowhere, Pakefield brought on Lee Will and Kyle Haycock in an attempt to repair their deficit, but both failed to make any real impact on the game.
Twenty minutes from time, the Robins made it three. A great spell of play from the hosts led to the ball being distributed to Reed out wide, he sent in a low cross for Theobald to easily tap the ball past Rix and secure all three points for Ely.
The fantastic result for Ely meant they had jumped above Hadleigh United to move out of the bottom three of the Thurlow & Nunn League.

Ely: Reynolds, Littlefair, Neal, Brooks, Williams, Cambridge (Griffin, 84), Darling (Jeffrey, 83), Walter (C), Reed (Simpson, 75), Theobald, Enaro
Kirkley & Pakefield: Rix, Grint (Haycock, 65), Hammond (Will, 60), Lopez, Herbert, Flower, Eagleton, Haverson, Stone, King (C), Smith,
Attendance: 66