ELY Tigers 2nd XV buried the memories of last week s heavy defeat to Saffron Walden by romping to an emphatic 27-5 victory over Newmarket 2s. Though a slow start saw them concede the first try, Ely quickly rallied and swept a startled Newmarket team aside

ELY Tigers 2nd XV buried the memories of last week's heavy defeat to Saffron Walden by romping to an emphatic 27-5 victory over Newmarket 2s.

Though a slow start saw them concede the first try, Ely quickly rallied and swept a startled Newmarket team aside with a combination of dextrous handling and potent scrummaging.

The win moves Matt Eldridge's side up to fifth place in the IPA Premiere League and, with a number of games in hand over the teams around them, stands them in good stead for an assault on the upper reaches of the league in the coming weeks.

From the outset it was clear there was to be no quarter given from either side as a series of crunching tackles from both teams made for a bruising start.

Still lacking in confidence from the previous weeks loss at Saffron, Ely were not at their best in the opening forays and Newmarket took full advantage as their quick thinking from a penalty afforded them a try.

Ely were incensed at the setback and straight from the restart they made for the visitors 22, an area of the pitch where much of the next 30 minutes would be played.

The home side begun to exert consistent pressure around the Newmarket five metre line and eventually their endeavour was rewarded as Andy Foster smashed through a swathe of bodies to score.

The Ely forwards were encouraged by their emerging advantage in the scrum and at rucks and they began to use this to their advantage in the ensuing minutes as they powered through the Newmarket defence once more, affording Ben Carter space enough to register.

With the advantage just a slender five points going in at half-time there remained a pressing need for Ely to add to the scoring after the restart.

With this in mind Ely resumed play with all the same gusto and drive as they had finished the first half. Despite Newmarket responding well to the onslaught initially, the speed with which the Tigers were attacking eventually proved too much.

A nimbly worked passing move after 10 minutes of the second half found its way to flanker Matt Watson who took full advantage of the diverging Newmarket defence to run over a crucial score.

With a gap in the scores now established, the home side moved up a gear and their vigilance at the Newmarket scrum allowed them to force a series of telling mistakes. Just such a mistake afforded Ely their fourth try of the day as Stacy Mould picked up from a drive and crashed over the line.

Newmarket became dejected and wearied by the long periods spent defending and their flagging defence were caught out by more quick passing as Fabien Andrade ran over the final try of the day, completing a consummate victory.