After all the recent rain the day was blessed with bright sunshine. After recent point gaining results Ely were keen to get a win against the side one place below them in the league. The sunshine couldn’t hide the cold howling wind. And it wasn’t just the weather that was blowing. A number of players admitted to having late night curries as a pre-match build up and Mark was missing all together as he was blowing from every orifice !!
The normal pattern of several team changes made it a juggle to confirm the line up. Captain Dods was off on the Piste and captain of the day, Warren, had to seek league permission to play Chris Purlant just so we could get 11 players on the pitch.

It was a slow start for Ely and a scrappy opening 10 minutes. St Ives were spreading the ball well and hitting long balls for the front 3 to run on to. Sloppy passing from Ely meant possession was difficult to maintain.
Sean made an early attempt for Dick of the day with an aerial which went higher than it did go forwards, plus it went wide off the side of the pitch.

St Ives made the first breakthrough to take the lead, but it didn’t last long. The goal seemed to galvanise the Ely team who managed to press the play further up the pitch and away from the goal area. Warren had a ‘beep beep’ moment and crossed for Chris P to slot home for the equaliser.

St Ives came back again as the game started to resemble a basketball match with end to end attacks. St Ives took the lead and that really annoyed the Ely team. Mike turned into the ‘Hulk’ and got angry. From the start Mike decided not to push back but to run head first through the opposition. Tim screamed ‘Where are you going?!’ Only Mike knew the answer. After dribbling around the whole team he squared the ball for Chris P to get his second and bring parity back to the game.

The anger and passion gave a period of controlled hockey with Ely looking the better team. The result was a Chris P reverse stick shot to seal a hat-trick and a 3-2 lead. If only we could convert some short corners the lead could have been extended.

Then the wheels came off!! Total comedy moment and undoubted Dick of the day winner!! A St Ives attack was broken down by Brownie chasing back like a headless chicken and stealing the ball. Then whilst still running towards his own goal it was decision time? What happens next? He took a wild swing to shell the ball off the pitch. However only succeeded in topping it to a St Ives player and then fell ‘A over T’ allowing St Ives a clean run at goal. Grangey came darting out of goal and Sean came across to cover. Result – Sean and Grangey collided and St Ives walked the ball into the net. What a shocker!!

Deflated Ely never recovered. St Ives continued to use their 3 rolling subs to remain fresh against a tiring Ely team. Goal number 4 found a St Ives player on his own leaning up against the post for a simple tap in. Goal 5 was an unstoppable short corner flick into the roof of the net whilst number 6 was half saved by Grangey only for the rebound to dribble to another St Ives player.

Sam tried to relieve some of the tension by falling over in the mud whilst fetching the ball, but alas the result was now beyond Ely.