Ely use their Ed for victory

Ely City 1st XI 7 March 2nd XI 0 A bruising encounter saw Ely Hockey Club thrash March 2nd XI 7-0 to take top position in Division 3NW. In an aggressive game – typical of the encounters between these fierce local rivals – Ely managed to open up the March

Ely City 1st XI 7 March 2nd XI 0

A bruising encounter saw Ely Hockey Club thrash March 2nd XI 7-0 to take top position in Division 3NW.

In an aggressive game - typical of the encounters between these fierce local rivals - Ely managed to open up the March defence on numerous occasions and were unlucky not to score more.

Ed Hugo opened the scoring after 10 minutes and Ely found themselves 4-0 up within twenty minutes, with additional goals from Tommy Hugo, Laurie Haslop and Ed Batt. Nearing half-time, Grant Gilmour had a goal disallowed and Tommy Hugo netted his second, leaving Ely 5-0 up heading into the break.

After a half-time talk from captain Chris Vincett warning Ely not to get complacent, Ely set out for the second half and quickly found themselves ahead with a strike from Ely veteran Chris 'SH' Roberts finding the March backboard.

With Ely 6-0 up, the team started to lose a bit concentration and the fluid passes from the first half made way for attempted solo dribbling consistently resulting in loss of possession.

Late on in the second half, Ely managed to string some more passes together and Ed Batt helped himself to his second of the game. Ely's defence of Fez Abbas, Chris Purlant, Richard Vincett and Joel Gilmour - so strong for most of the game - were undone by a March forward who found himself one on one with the Ely keeper, Chris Vincett.

Having not had much to do for large parts of the game, Vincett sprung into action with an excellent save, stopping an almost certain March goal.

The last five minutes were played out without a goal from either side, leaving Ely comfortable winners. Next week Long Sutton 2nd XI travel to Ely, pushed back to13:30 at the Ely Astro pitch on Downham Road - supporters welcome!