The Mens 2nd IV continued their good start to the season with a 3-1 win over Cambridge City 4.
A winning formula of going behind into half time seems to be the trick, this time Ely were one goal down at half time with a penalty corner that whistled between diving keeper Ian Grange and defender Tim Reynolds. Ely seemed unstable in the first 20 minutes of the game having trouble finding chances in the last 3rd of the pitch but soon began to find a rhythm; chance after chance were either squandered or more often saved by an on form City keeper.

Ely equalised not long after the break with a haphazard goal from Warren Dennis. Collecting the ball in the circle and firing it towards goal a City stick caused the ball to loop up over the keeper and find the back of the net. This goal was considered by most Ely players as an own goal so no real credit has been given to Warren ☺.

Ely then started to dominate play but were still caught out by City’s counter attacking with both sides missing chances. A cacophony of defensive errors lead to a city player almost alone in the circle with a clear shot on goal, however the player had not counted on an excellent save from Man of the Match Ian Grange, who dealt with the shot at the expense of his calf muscle, which required freeze spray and strapping before play could continue.

After hours of intense imaginative penalty corner training on Wednesday night Ely converted one in the usual way, Tim Reynolds slotting home from the top of the circle into the corner of the goal. After gaining the lead Ely began to stretch the opposition more and more with fine interlinking play and searching runs from the wings. The dominance finally payed of when Marc Hunt provided a simple tap in for Warren Dennis by drawing the keeper of his line and passing it square. This time the goal could not have been discredited from Warren no-one could have missed this opportunity.

The Mens 2nd IV play Long Sutton 2 next week away.

Thanks to Sam for the report.