Ely City manager Brady Stone curses late Debenham cancellation

Ely City boss Brady Stone was left bemused at the timing of the decision to call off their Thurlow Nunn Division One clash with Debenham LC last weekend.

The Robins squad were preparing to travel to Stowmarket for their 3pm kick-off match against Debenham, before receiving the news that the game had been called off - 45 minutes before the squad was due to leave.

Stone said: “The boys were disappointed that the game was called off. They’d all got together and were getting ready to leave at half past 12 before getting told it was off at 11.45.”

However, Stone wants his men to use their disappointment at the cancellation as motivation to perform well in their crunch tie with Great Yarmouth Town on Saturday.

He said: “They beat us 5-2 earlier in the season at their place so we owe them one. We’ll train hard this week and then hopefully the boys can take their frustrations out in the Yarmouth game.”

Yarmouth will come to the Unwin Ground on Saturday (3pm) full of confidence after becoming only the second side to take points off runaway league-leaders Wivenhoe Town after holding them to a 0-0 draw, and Stone knows that the Robins are set for a tough fixture.

“It’s a massive game,” he said. “We need to be beating the teams around us we want to make another statement in our promotion push on Saturday.”

Yarmouth are sitting one place behind Ely, and a win for the visitors will see them leapfrog the Robins as they have a superior goal difference.