ELY City s lamentable run of form at the Unwin Ground continued on Saturday as they lost out 2-1 to Kirkley and Pakefield. Two damaging goals in the first-half for Kirkley proved the difference between the sides as Robins slipped to their third home defe

ELY City's lamentable run of form at the Unwin Ground continued on Saturday as they lost out 2-1 to Kirkley and Pakefield.

Two damaging goals in the first-half for Kirkley proved the difference between the sides as Robins slipped to their third home defeat of the season, despite a late rally that saw them almost salvage a draw.

Coming into the game, Ely were struggling with a number of injuries and a lack of confidence in front of their home crowd that had seen them slip to defeats against both Wisbech and Needham Market in recent weeks.

The Robins once more adopted a 4-5-1 formation at the start of the game with Richard Chadwick leading the line, but, despite the extra bodies in the centre of the field, Ely struggled to retain possession as Kirkley thrived.

The breakthrough for the visitors came midway through the half as Russell Stock broke through the Ely defence to slot home. Chadwick could have levelled mere minutes after for the Robins but headed over from 10 yards after an inch perfect ball from Adam Bensaud.

Ely's defence were outfoxed once more after 27 minutes when front-man Chris Henderson cut in off the wing and curled home from 20 yards after outpacing a number of defenders.

After the break Ely returned to the fray a far more cohesive unit and spent much of the half besieging the Kirkley goal. Content to defend their lead, the visitors defended stoutly and managed to frustrate Ely, with a number of yellow cards being shown to Trevor Munn's side.

In the last ten minutes captain Simon Warren had two glorious chances to pull a goal back for Ely but the part-time front-man spurned both, much to his and the crowd' astonishment.

Substitute Chris Sterecki squeezed home in injury time to provide Ely some hope, but it came too late as the whistle blew mere seconds later. The loss sees Ely slip to 15th place with four points to their name.