A GRITTY Ely City side came away with pride in tact after a narrow 3-2 loss at the hands of Blue Square South side, Bishops Stortford. Though Ely struggled to keep up with their accomplished opponents in the first half, an impressive and battling second-h

A GRITTY Ely City side came away with pride in tact after a narrow 3-2 loss at the hands of Blue Square South side, Bishops Stortford.

Though Ely struggled to keep up with their accomplished opponents in the first half, an impressive and battling second-half effort saw them earn decent reward in an excellent game.

The visiting Bishops Stortford side sit three leagues above the Robins, and in patches in the first-half the gulf was apparent as they conjured their way through the Ely back-line with some fine passing football.

Eager not to be overawed though, Ely harried their opponents relentlessly in midfield and made life difficult as they sought to forge some moves of their own. For all their pluck though, Ely were unable to stop the Blues opening the scoring after 11 minutes through Adam Bolle.

Things soon got worse for Ely as a lack of concentration saw them fall two behind after 14 minutes as Ashley Forbes slotted into an empty net.

It was in the second half that the Robins really came to the fore however, as, taking full advantage of a sluggish visiting side, they began to string together some excellent attacking moves.

The pressure finally told in the 52nd minute as veteran Wayne Goddard curled home from a full 25 yards to catch the visiting keeper unawares. Buoyed by their breakthrough, Ely pushed yet further forward and took control of the game.

With just five minutes to go however, the Robins were dealt a cruel blow as Stortford tore through the Ely back-line and handed Bolle the simple task of making it 3-1.

Keen not to be outdone, Ely pushed numbers forward in the dying minutes and earned a richly deserved second, as Adam Salmons raced through to slot home.

Ely will face rivals Soham on July 29 in the annual Doug Unwin Memorial Cup at the Unwin Ground at 7.45pm. All proceeds will be donated to the East of England Air Ambulance.