Ely have been struggling to field the same starting line up this season and this week was no exception. With nil points on the board this season and the half way mark fast approaching the home side were hosting fellow strugglers Harpenden in what was going to be a vital game.

The visitors were quick off th mark and the Ely defence struggled to cope with the movement of the Harpenden forwards. Unsurprisingly this led to Ely being 2-0 down after just ten minutes, when an early deflection was followed up with a short corner that was deflected high into the Ely net. A third was added when a reverse stick effort from an unmarked midfielder was lifted above the advancing Ely keeper.

Ely started to control play for large periods but the visitors added a fourth from another short corner before half time.

With a reshuffle and change of plan Ely started the second half brightly , again controlling the game and creating some good chances. They were rewarded when Chris Purllant pulled one back after a couple of attempts.

This was however the end of Ely's scoring for today and the visitors hit the mark on two more occasions before the final whistle ended the misery.

Ely take on top of the league Saffron Walden next week hoping to improve on this performance and work on a new game plan.