Ely City will hope to get the new year off to a good start when they travel to the Essex coast to play FC Clacton on Saturday.

Brady Stone’s men were left empty-handed from their two Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division fixtures over the festive period after falling to a pair of 3-1 defeats.

The Robins had battled to a 2-2 draw at Stowmarket in their last match before Christmas, but then faced a Boxing Day trip to table-topping Godmanchester Rovers.

And they put up a fight on a difficult surface, with Luke Brown netting a superb strike on his return to the side while home from studies in the United States.

Joe Furness, Michael Hyem and Joseph Walker were on target for the hosts, though, as they took the points.

Saturday saw Ely host Haverhill Rovers and trail to a stunning Marc Abbott goal at the break, despite having a number of chances in the first half.

Henry Hall headed home a second from Abbott’s free-kick soon after the restart and Mark Lovell scrambled in a third on 72 minutes.

Substitute Jerome Morris hit back late on, but it was little consolation for the Robins in front of a crowd of 109.