Ely City 4-1 Leiston Reserves: Robins are flying high in third after convincing win

Ely City moved up to third in the Thurlow Nunn Division One table and made it ten goals in two games with a hard earned 4-1 victory against Leiston Reserves.

The Robins were given a scare by their opponents; going one goal down at half time, but a brace each from Matty Simpson and Alex Theobald in the second half saw Brady Stone’s men rise to third in the league.

Leiston Reserves came to the Unwin Ground full of confidence on the back of a 7-0 win in the week, and the Robins gave a debut to goalkeeper Harry Reynolds after signing on loan from Soham Town Rangers last week.

The opening exchanges were scrappy, meaning neither team could get a foot hold in the game on a difficult playing surface.

The first chance of the game fell to Ely through Ash Walter, but he could not fully connect with his effort from close range.

Leiston were looking confident in possession and on the counter attack, moving the ball quickly not troubling the debutant Reynolds.

Ely had a golden opportunity to take the lead in the 27th minute, after Matty Simpson was brought down by a Leiston defender resulting in a penalty to the Robins.

Matty Simpson dusted himself off and stepped up, but saw his effort sail over via the crossbar.

Ely were punished for not taking their chances when a ball over the Ely defence was met by the left winger who raced clear and calmly slotted past Harry Reynolds giving the visitors the lead ten minutes before half time.

The Robins raced out the blocks in the second half and drew level after only 27 seconds after the restart after Craig Neal, having switched to the right, picked up the ball from a poor clearance and advanced forward before putting the ball into the box for James Seymour to finish with aplomb.

Just three minutes later, James Seymour broke through the Leiston defence and rounded the keeper, but opted to back heel the ball to Alex Theobald who calmly steered the ball beyond the defenders on the line.

The away side weathered the storm and defended well and it was not until the 85th minute when Ely put the game beyond reach when Ash Walter played in James Seymour who calmly rounded the goalkeeper and slotted home.

The fourth and final goal followed three minutes later when Lewis Hook played a smart one-two with Sam Goodge before passing to Alex Theobald who slotted past the keeper for his second goal of the game to seal the comeback.

Ely boss Brady Stone never doubted his side, despite them going a goal down, saying: “We didn’t play that badly in the first half, and I said at half time that we needed to up the tempo and I’m sure we’ll win four or five-one, which we did.”

Ely have now netted an impressive ten goals in their last two games, and their next fixture sees them travel to fourth-placed Halstead Town on Saturday November 14 in what is a must-win game.