A bright afternoon in rural Suffolk saw the Robins land in Walsham Le Willows. Although there was no Robin Redbreasts, there were a lot of Robins with red hair, as the players took to the field. It was a fairly sparse crowd, the pitch was very green and fairly wet and everyone knew it was to be a hard fought game and so it turned out to be.
Ely started with a 5-3-2 formation but in fact it was Walsham who went on to the attack, straight down the right wing, but the cross was easily gathered by Lee Pacey at his near post.. Walsham continued to press playing some neat football and although they got crosses in from wide and had a couple of corners and a free kick from distance they did not actually get anything in the way of a goal bound effort. It took 10 minutes before Ely really got forward when Austen Diaper got in a good cross but there was no one to get on the end of it. Nick Impey got off a decent shot from distance but it was wide. Ely seemed to be over complicating things and there was little communication between the players. The game was fairly even being played out in the centre of the field and things were not helped by the over fussy and inconsistent officials A couple of the Ely players didn’t talk and this saw them lose the ball going forward and allowed a Walsham attacker to get away in the inside left position but his shot across goal was wide. In the 29th minute Taz Chisango did good work out on the right but his cross saw Andrew Claydon head wide. Walsham got themselves some corners but this pressure was eventually cleared and Taz had a decent effort from distance but this was just wide. It was the 38th minute that was probably the defining moment of the game. The Ref. awarded Walsham a free kick about 6 or so yards outside the box, Jack Brane took it and hit it really well with pace and accuracy, it went over the wall and flew into the top left hand corner of the net for Walsham to take the lead. This was the first shot on target in the whole game. Ely tried to get back and good work on the right saw the ball crossed close to the bye line but under heavy pressure ‘Porky’ Claydon could only stab the ball wide. Walsham got forward and a good shot from 25 yards brought out a good save from ‘Pace’ as he turned it round the post. The corner was cleared out to Lewis McDonald. ‘Macca’ made ground down the right and got a good deep cross to the back post, Porky made a good connection with his head and the Walsham keeper made a really good save just underneath his bar by the angle. The corner was cleared and there was no more real action before the break came.
Ely started, going forward and were soon awarded a free kick. This was headed away but fell to ’Imps’ just outside the box unfortunately his drive was wide. The 48th minute saw Taz get the ball wide down the right, he cut it back to ’Macca’ but his effort was high over the bar. On 52 minutes another Ely corner came out of the pack hit Ben Lawrence but went wide. A minute later Walsham put a long ball over the top and again due to lack of communication two Ely players went to clear the ball as Brane also chased it. He went down and the Ref adjudged it a foul and awarded a penalty. Andrew Cusack took it and sent ’Pace the wrong way to make it 2 - 0 Ely went forward again, Sam Parkinson had a good run down the left but his cross was put out for a corner. Ben Lawrence had another long throw which Taz headed on but ’Porkys’ effort was wide. On 58 minutes Josh Bridgeman came on for Josh Curry. Walsham kept the ball well and on 65 minutes Richard Chadwick 'Chads'came on for ’Parky’ Sam Parkinson. Walsham went forward and the ball went across from the right to the left finding the Walsham wide man and his stinging shot brought another good save from ’Pace’ There was little action at either end as two even teams cancelled each other out. On 78 minutes Richard Gammon came on for ’Porky. On 80 minutes Austin Diaper appeared to be getting away towards goal but the Ref pulled him back for handball even though it appeared ball to hand. A minute later we had the same scenario but this time play was allowed to continue and ‘Tino’ got to the bye line but his cross was cleared for a corner. The corner was cleared down the Walsham left and as the Walsham player tried to outpace Josh Bridgeman down the line Josh brought him down and received a yellow card. The free kick saw a long shot on the Ely goal but it caused no danger. The 89th minute saw an Ely free kick high into the box and as usual Adam Murray rose highest but this time his header went wide and the last couple of minutes were played out before the final whistle went.
This was not one of Ely’s better performances, there was a lack of talking, telling each other what was going on around them, there appeared no conviction about the play and they didn’t really look dangerous going forward. I think this one is best forgotten and we should now look forward to a much improved performance, this Tuesday, in the league cup tie against the league leaders Mildenhall.