To their credit, Ely City have exceeded expectations week in, week out this season; but the Robins last home game of 2017 was a day to forget after suffering a 6-0 defeat at the hands of Histon.
The Robins gave their supporters an early Christmas present by beating Wroxham at the Unwin last Saturday, thanks to goals from Deakan Napier and substitute Sam Reed, but were left to lick their wounds on Boxing Day after never really getting going against a well-drilled Histon outfit.
Ely City’s assistant manager Martin Grey said the squad know it was not good enough but he, and first team boss Brady Stone won’t be hammering them over the result.
“It was disappointing, it was frustrating and the lads know it wasn’t good enough; but Brady and I are not going to hammer them,” he said.
“It is one bad day at the office for us, but we are still sitting in sixth place with more points on the board than we got during the whole of last season.
“We had a really good win over Wrxoham before the Histon game and we want to put it behind us and move on.”
Histon opened the scoring with 18 minutes on the clock with Max York heading home Shaun Jenkins’ corner after being left unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box.
Six minutes later and Ely lost Napier through injury and the Stutes added a second soon after when Ed Rolph latched on to Lee Smith’s through ball, before slotting past Harry Reynolds.
Ely came out for the second-half knowing they needed a reaction but just four minutes after the restart they found themselves further behind thanks to York’s long throw behind turned towards goal thanks to Rolph’s glancing header.
Jenkins added a fourth with 69 minutes on the clock, with an excellent long-range effort from 30-yards out and 12 minutes from time it was high-fives all round when Histon substitute James Carman scored with his first touch to make it 5-0.
York scored his second header of the day to bag himself a brace on the verge of the final whistle, sealing a 6-0 win for his side.
Ely City will be looking to bounce back when they travel to second-placed Coggeshall Town in the Premier Division Saturday (kick off 3.00pm).
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here