ELY 3 s staunch defence saw them hold on for a nail biting 21-20 win over visiting Cambridge Exiles. Though the home side dominated the early exchanges of the game they were made to sweat in the latter stages as the visitors poured forward in search of a

ELY 3's staunch defence saw them hold on for a nail biting 21-20 win over visiting Cambridge Exiles.

Though the home side dominated the early exchanges of the game they were made to sweat in the latter stages as the visitors poured forward in search of a winner.

It wasn't to be for Cambridge though, as Ely picked up their fourth win in five games.

Sidelined Captain, Ben Brownlie, said "We made that very hard for ourselves. The disipline in the second half was not good enough and needs to be addressed. But it is another league win."

Ely were quick out of the traps in the opening stages and exerted strong pressure on the opposition back-line, earning them the lion's share of the early possession.

Ely's persistence in harrying Cambridge paid off as Houghton kicked through a grubber and successfully chased down his own kick to open the scoring on five minutes.

The confidence in an early score sat well with the home side who maintained a high work rate, forcing a number of mistakes from Cambridge who were still finding their feet in the match.

The Tigers extended their lead not long after their first score after a line out five metres from the Cambridge line was driven over by Alan Mason, with the conversion added from Cato to make the score 14-0.

Cambridge were spurred into action by the flurry of Ely scores and as

possession balanced out they began to grow into the game earning them a quick-fire brace of tries.

The Tigers steadied the ship in the aftermath of the Exiles' second try however, and went on to extend their lead courtesy of debutant Dan Hudson who ran a great line from 15 metres out, cutting through the Cambridge defence and over for Ely's third try.

Though Cato converted Hudson's try, the last word of the half was to go to the Exiles who ran over their third try of the game on 38 minutes to make the half time score 21-15.

A number of changes were made at half time, including the entire front row and two in the backs, and a refreshed Ely side took the field for the second half.

Unfortunately Ely were not able to demonstrate the same superiority in the second half as in the first and the frustration started to show.

Cambridge took advantage of this at the game wore on and ran over a fourth try with just five minutes left in the game. All held their breath as the Exiles kicker stepped up with the chance to steal the game for the visitors but the kick went wide and Ely held on for the win.