By STEVE GREEN Email: steve.green@archant.co.uk FOOTBALL REVIEW – ELY CITY RIDGEONS LEAGUE FIRST DIVISION Ely City P36 Home W12 D4 L2 F40 A22 (2nd of 19) Away W10 D4 L4 F41 A20 Pts 74 ELY drew 4-4 with Cornard United in the opening match at home

By STEVE GREEN

Email: steve.green@archant.co.uk

FOOTBALL REVIEW - ELY CITY

RIDGEONS LEAGUE FIRST DIVISION

Ely City P36 Home W12 D4 L2 F40 A22

(2nd of 19) Away W10 D4 L4 F41 A20 Pts 74

ELY drew 4-4 with Cornard United in the opening match at home, and then lost 4-3 at March Town United the following Tuesday.

They followed that with a 3-3 home draw against Whitton United - who eventually got promoted alongside them - but finally got their league season underway with a 1-0 victory at Hadleigh United.

That was the start of a four-match winning streak for the 'Robins', but they were distracted by cup action in the following weeks and their league activity in the meantime was fairly disastrous - a 3-2 loss at Halstead Town being followed by draws against both Great Yarmouth Town (away) and Diss Town (at home).

The Ridgeons League Cup First Round 1-0 defeat of Walsham-le-Willows set the scene for the remainder of Ely's campaign however, and they won five successive league games before being held at home by Debenham LC.

Four more league wins in a row followed that result, but after holding eventual champions Tiptree United 2-2 away City lost 1-0 at Saffron Walden Town in controversial circumstances.

They were subsequently dumped out of the Ridgeons League Cup at the Quarter Final stage by Gorleston, but knuckled down to take 22 points from their next nine games to clinch promotion.

Ely also edged past Whitton United in the semi-final of the First Division Knock Out Cup, and then went on to beat Halstead 6-5 on penalties in the final after a 1-1 draw in extra-time.

City can now look forward to Premier Division football next season, but there will unfortunately be no derby clash with Soham Town Rangers following that team's promotion as champions.