Saffron Walden 5 Ely City 5

Hockey

ELY recovered from a nightmare start to record a superb draw with Saffron Walden on Saturday.

A turgid opening 20 minutes saw Ely go 3-0 down as the hosts laid siege to their goal, scoring almost at will.

An injury to defender Rich Vincett saw Ely rearrange their lineup however, which had the desired effect as they began to push forward and force Saffron into some desperate defending of their own.

Walden’s keeper pulled off some top-class saves to keep the Ely attack of Gilmour, Hugo and Purllant at bay. Shortly before the end of the half, a slick passing move from Ely allowed Stu Clarke to fire past the home keeper from close range and raise the sprits of the Ely team going in at the break.

The second half continued with some good flowing play from both teams and, despite Walden stretching their lead with a further two goals, their defence failed to handle the pace of former National League player Scott Gilmour.

Gilmour rounded three Walden defenders and the keeper to slot the ball home and reduce the lead. Further goals soon followed for Gilmour and Hugo, reducing the game to a final short corner awarded to Ely as the final whistle was blown with the score at 5-4 to Walden.

Intelligent play by Julian Palmer as the short corner was played out presented Gilmour with the final shot of the game that found it’s way into the goal to level the final score at 5-5 and completed his hat-trick.