Ely City vs Thetford Town @ Demcom Stadium - Ely
Thurlow Nunn Premier Division (Step 5)
15:00 KO
£8 entry
Attendance - 111
Half-time score: Ely City 1-3 Thetford Town
Goals:
Thetford Town: Mann - 5'
Ely City: Chambers-Shaw - 7'
Thetford Town: Diggens - 10'
Thetford Town: King - 39'
Thetford Town: Diggens - 58'
Thetford Town: Balment - 70'
Thetford Town: Machaya - 89'
Ely City: Jenkins - 92'
Final Score: Ely City 2-6 Thetford Town
Todays game saw Thetford make the trip across the fens and into Cambridgeshire to play Ely City, a team that they have a good record against in recent fixtures, including a 4-1 away win last season, followed by two home wins of 4-0 & 4-2. Despite this, today was going to be tough as Ely's form was unpredictable, having had some decent recent results. With the family having no plans, we decided to all head up to Ely today to see the sites of this beautiful cathedral city.
It was market day and the historic centre was bustling with people, and in amongst the stalls I found the biggest cinnamon danish I'd ever seen - I had to have it and I did not regret it. I also picked up a couple of nice looking chicken, gammon & leek pies for dinner.
We done a bit of shopping, walked around the cathedrals grounds then headed back to the car to drive over to the Demcom Stadium, a really decent football facility at this level, and it was great to see my 4 and 1 year olds granted free entry. As ever, I picked up a programme, I really like the ones they do here, a bit more at £1.50 but full of excellent detail, and glossy pages throughout.
It was an unseasonably mild autumn day, with the sun low in the afternoon sky to greet Ely City in their home red jerseys, and Thetford Ton in their away sky blue strip to prevent a clash, a shirt I'm a big fan of it has to be said. Before kick-off, to mark Armistice Day, a minute silence was held and respectfully observed by all.
KEY MOMENTS
Ely City = EC
Thetford Town = TT
5' - TT - GOAL (0-1) - A lovely ball from Lake sends Mann free down the right, he takes the ball forwards and from outside the box he hits an unreal strike that travels directly into the top-left corner, giving the keeper no chance and putting Thetford up early on - what a goal from the midfielder!
7' - EC - GOAL (1-1) - Ely respond almost immediately, a swift attack down the right sees Jack Chandler play in Foster, he squares the ball across the face of goal to find Chambers-Shaw coming in from the left, and he calmly taps the ball into the gaping mouth of the goal.
10' - TT - GOAL (1-2) - A simply incredible ball from Gilchrist, using the outside of his boot, puts strike partner Diggens through, fending off challenges and jinking about, he makes his way deep into the box, and eventually makes the space for the strike which goes beyond the keeper and into the goal, a fine effort from the forward doing a lot of work to create that one.
17' - EC - A Munro corner is headed towards goal by tall defender Bowen, but it went just over the bar, dipping into the top of the net - very close!
26' - EC - Another dangerous Ely City piece causes issues at the back for Thetford, with player-manager Matt Morton having to head the ball over his own goal.
28' - EC - In an attacking position, defender Bowen receives the ball, from outside the box he hits a daisy cutter of a shot which goes just wide of the goal.
39' - TT - GOAL (1-2) - Having weathered the assault on their goal, Thetford strike at the other end, King drives from a deep position, all the way to inside the box, skilfully makes room for a strike and buries it to give Thetford that all important 2-goal advantage just before the break, King again showing the difference he can have on a game with a wonderful solo goal.
45' + 1' - EC - A neat 1-2 from Chambers-Shaw and Jack Chandler puts the former in a good position for a shot outside of the box, and with the outside of his boot he strikes the ball well, but his dipping effort flies just over the crossbar.
46' - TT - Early in the second half, Gilchrist plays in King, he controls the ball and to hit a half-volley on the turn from within the box, his effort looked to be in, but it rolled millimeters wide of the far post, almost the perfect start to the second half.
50' - TT - A relentless attack from a series of set pieces sees strikes after strike unleashed on the goal, with efforts from Lake and Gilchrist in the mix, the final effort from Gilchrist relying on a good block from an Ely defender to keep it out.
54' - TT - A trademark King slide-rule pass slips Gilchrist through, he shoots from within the box, across the face of goal, but it is just wide of the far post.
58' - TT - GOAL (1-4) - Driving into the box, King passes to Machaya who flicks the ball back to King, he drives even deeper and from the by-line cuts the ball back to find Diggens on the penalty spot, in acres of space he takes a touch, composes himself to pick and spot and calmly strokes it in to effectively seal the win.
62' - TT - A bouncing ball finds Gilchrist in the box, he turns and shoots, but his effort is again marginally wide of the far post.
70' - TT - GOAL (1-5) - A Thetford short corner with a wonderful 1-2 sees King able to charge into the box yet again, he squares the ball across the face of the goal and it is bundled in at the far post by Balment to cue joyful celebrations amongst the Thetford faithful.
78' - EC - Ely attack down the right wing and unleash Jack Chandler, he bursts in to the box but his strike is well saved by the onrushing Tom Smith.
83' - EC - Substitute Visocanskis loses the ball in a dangerous position, the loose ball falling to Jack Chandler who attempts to lob Tom Smith, but Tom positions himself well to make a simple catch to defuse the danger.
89' - TT - GOAL (1-6) - Captain Bond chips the ball over to Machaya, he performs a amazing turn which sends three defenders down the wrong avenue, he takes advantage of the space that he created to run through on goal uncontested, unleashing a firecracker of a shot to bend the ball in past the keeper at his near post to add yet another goal to his and Thetford's tally.
92' - EC - GOAL (2-6) - A late attack results in a good strike from Chambers-Shaw, forcing another good save from Tom Smith. Ely keep pressing, and a ball across the edge of the box is well tracked by substitute Jenkins who hits the ball sweetly for it to curl into the right hand side of the goal, beyond Tom Smith, who was desperately tracking across. There is no time for a restart as the referee blows for full-time.
Despite each half ending up 3-1 to Thetford Town, this one really felt like a game of two halves. In the 1st half, Ely City were pressing high and won set-piece after set-piece high up the field, and were causing Thetford some issues. Luckily Thetford withstood the sustained pressure, and took their chances well to take a 2-goal lead into the break. In the 2nd half, Ely completely fell away, and it was just a relentless wave of successive Thetford attacks, and in the end it was a really comfortable and dominant display from the league leaders, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable watch with some sublime fluid football from the lads, and some fine goals often involving some brilliant individual skill and finishing. Looking at Ely, they certainly put up a fight in the early stages of the game, and looked good at times, but they ultimately did not have enough on the day, but fair play for not giving up, the late goal just rewards. With Hadleigh drawing, the win sees Thetford Town stretch their lead to 5 points, as well as add +4 onto the goal difference column, so all-in-all a brilliant day for the Brecklanders. Next up is Harleston Town away in the Norfolk Senior Cup, a game I can't wait for on Tuesday evening. If Thetford play like they did today, it should be a great evening of football, UP THE TOWN!!!
Line-Ups:
ELY CITY: Jordan Packi, Ben Isaacson, Sam Townshend, Josh Townshend, Charlie Bowen, Ross Munro, Jordan Foster, Ash Walter (C), Lawrence Mullins-Hammond, Callum Chambers-Shaw, Jack Chandler. SUBS: Dom Hunt, Louis Jenkins, Louie Stokes, Ardened Hida.
THETFORD TOWN: Tom Smith, Sam Bond (C), Matt Morton, Connor Balment, Andrew Cusack, Jake Mann, Jordan Lake, Cameron King, Dan Gilchrist, Emmanuel Machaya, George Diggens. SUBS: Macauley Rodgers, Elliot Smith, Artur Visocanskis, Santi Davies, John Taylor.
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