Ely City 2 Eynesbury Rovers 0

ALAN Alsop’s Ely moved through to the next round of the FA Vase thanks to a clinical display against Eynesbury on Saturday.

In a game that lacked many clear-cut chances, two goals in the final five minutes of the first half was enough to send Ely through, with Andrew Claydon and Taz Chisango on the scoresheet.

The Robins will go through to face Hatfield Town in the second round proper, with the tie taking place at Hatfield on November 17.

Eyensbury’s Aaron Greene produced the first real chance of the game after just three minutes as he stole a march on his full back to flash a shot at Lee Pacey, though the Ely captain was equal to the task.

The two teams were evenly matched for much of the opening half-hour and were unable to fashion much in attack as the respective defences dominated.

A half-volley from Richard Gammon on the half-hour mark added much-needed impetus to the Ely effort however, and they soon began to get on top, though the visitors’ Jack Weedon fired wide when well placed on a rare breakaway.

The deadlock was broken in the 40th minute as Claydon broke into the box, only to be held back by his marker and a penalty awarded, Chisango sending the goalkeeper the wrong way.

Just five minutes later and Ely were 2-0 up as a Ben Lawrence long throw was headed goalwards by a towering Adam Murray.

Though goalkeeper Andrew Wale reacted superbly to tip Murray’s effort onto the bar, the same could not be said for his defenders, who were left flat-footed as Claydon forced the rebound home.

Eynesbury started to build some momentum going forward in the second half and Pacey had to be alert early on to deny Greene and Nick Finney.

Josh Bridgeman went close to making it 3-0 with 15 minutes remaining only for his goalbound effort to be cleared from the goalmouth by Darren Woodend.

Lee Bassett added another dimension to the visitors’ attack in the latter stages but a good chance to head his side back into the match was spurned by the tall substitute as Ely saw out the game.