It was an extremely hot, sunny and strength sapping day. The home of the Tangerines is a good stadium with a really fine and wide playing surface. In front of the 96 paying customers, the Robins landed in Diss Town.
There were a number of changes from last weeks winning side, Jamie Greygoose and Ben Lawrence (Bubs) replaced the suspended Lee Pacey and Darren Coe, Chris Sterecki (Streks) came in for injured Richard Gammon and Andrew Claydon (Porky) and Adam Murray (Mussa) replaced the unavailable Richard Chadwick and Taz Chisango.

Ely started well going forward and had an early corner which was eventually cleared. On 5 minutes a long ‘Bubs’ throw into the box was headed on by ‘Mussa’ Austen Diaper AKA Tino, got to it first but his header scraped the top of the crossbar. Diss didn’t cause Ely any early trouble and another header from ‘Mussa’ was well saved in the Diss goal by the excellent Matt Webster whose handling was spot on all afternoon The game was played out in midfield with the Robin’s two midfield Josh’s harrying and chasing tirelessly so there were few chances for either side until the 36th minute. ‘Shrecks’ won the ball in the right back position, he played a good ball along the line to Luke McDonald (Macca). He then made good ground towards the Diss bye-line before crossing low into the box. There was ‘Porky’ to run onto it and steer his shot into the net from 12 yards. Diss were not really able to trouble the Ely back four. Ely contented themselves with shots from distance but these were all well dealt with by Webster and Ely went into the break with a 1 - 0 lead.

The second period started in the same vein with snap shots from ‘Tino’ and ‘Macca’. It wasn’t until the hour mark that Diss started to look more troublesome. A dangerous cross from the right was well saved by Jamie in the Ely goal and Diss caused more pressure especially with long balls out to their wide men. A free kick caused trouble in the Ely box but Jamie was eventually able to get it away.

On 70 minutes Luke Fretwell who had worked tirelessly in the hot sun was replaced by Nick Impey. ’Macca’ dropped into left back spot and ’Imps’ went wide right. Diss continued to push on but the Robins defence manfully kept them away from goal sometimes at the expense of a corner.

Diss pushed the dangerous right back Jason Cole to a forward position but it was ’Tino’ who had the next shot, unfortunately this whistled just over the bar. On 75 minutes ’Mussa’ had to leave the field with a foot injury, possibly a broken toe . He was replaced in central defence by Kenny Smith. Josh Curry then had a fierce shot well blocked. ‘Cus’ took the corner himself, ‘Porky’ got up well but his header just drifted wide. It was the Tangerines turn to attack, they got the ball down the side of Kenny Smith that left a one on one with Jamie but the Diss player pulled his shot wide as Jamie advanced.

On 84 minutes ‘Tino’ was replaced by Ian Walters, with Ian going wide right and ‘Imps’ moving to the middle. Immediately ‘Imps’ put a ball over the top and as the keeper came out there was confusion between him and the defender. ‘Porky’ spotted the mistake quickly and was able to nip in between them and take the ball away from both. Another defender managed to get back on the line but ‘Porky’ calmly steered the ball home between him and the post to make it 2 - 0 . It looked as if the three points were wrapped up, but Diss had other idea’s.. They seemed to be fairing a bit better than Ely, in the heat, at this late stage and continued to attack with great determination and vigour

They were rewarded in the 89th minute, a long ball came in from the right to the left hand corner of the penalty box, Tom Bryant got to it first and lobbed the advancing Jamie, the ball dropped over his head into the right hand corner of the net. It still looked like Ely’s game but the Referee decided to play another 6 minutes after this. Where this time came from is unknown as there were no injuries in the second half except ‘Mussa’ who had gone straight off without the trainer even coming on.. Diss now had their tails up and pressed again, the Robins supporters were calling for the final whistle when on 95 minutes the final act came about. Diss got a man through on the left but ‘Bubs’ got a good block in and the ball went out for a corner.

The Diss keeper was up and all 22 players were in the area, as the ball came in it ping-ponged about with some head tennis before Cole was able to head it over the line, although there did look a suspicion of offside at the time. Diss of course celebrated and just after the restart the Ref blew the final whistle. It just went to show that its not over until that final whistle blows, and a hard fought afternoon finished all square.