Ely City I 6 Dereham II 0

Hockey

ELY showed their mettle with a crushing win over fellow promotion-chasers Dereham on Saturday.

Already without defensive stalwart Julian Palmer, Ely were rocked by the late withdrawal of Freddie Upton and Charles Kisby, and hit by the loss of electric midfielder Dan Jolly to injury at the beginning of the second half.

Their response was a battling one however, and they quickly regrouped to produce a dominant performance, with braces apiece to the three front men, Jack Upton, Chris Vincett, and Chris Purllant.

With a new-look and slightly nervous backline, Ely started slowly and keeper Stu Parker, in his finest performance for the club, was called on to make a series of good saves. As the side grew into the match, though, Dereham struggled to cope with Ely’s movement and circulation of the ball and two well-worked short corner routines saw Ely go into the break two goals to the good.

Upton opened the scoring in the second half with a composed far-post finish before the loss of Jolly forced Ely into a tactical reshuffle and saw young Sam Dunkley get his first opportunity for the first team. His clever movement and willingness to show for the ball showed he was far from over-awed by the occasion.

Shocked by the injury to Jolly, Ely lost their composure for five minutes as Dereham pressed. A fourth goal from Purllant, again from a short corner, stymied any thought of a comeback, though, and Ely controlled the final stages of the match, Purllant scoring his second after superb work from rampaging right back Rob Radcliffe, and Chris Vincett left with the simplest of finishes after a magical pass from creative midfielder Rutland.

As ever, influential midfielders Nick Wells and Stu Clarke were at the centre of Ely’s play and the two fullbacks, Radcliffe and Myles Forber, were outstanding again. he only disappointment were two more yellow cards – one for F’roze Abass, back in the side after two weeks away, and the other for serial offender Upton who now misses next week’s clash with Bury.