Five Star Ely Cruise Past Shelford In The Cup

ELY City cruised to an impressive 5-1 victory against Great Shelford in the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup.

Four second half goals from the Robins proved too good for the visitors who struggled to deal with Ely's polished pass-and-move football.

Chairman Bob Button said: "It was nice to see that we played some good football after our recent bad run and I thought we battled well despite a few hefty tackles which came in from Shelford.

"With a bit of luck now we can carry some momentum through to the weekend's game although we may be struggling a bit with injuries and suspensions."

Despite the chasm in class by the end of the game the first-half was a tight affair with the visitors holding Ely at bay with some resolute defending. Ely found their way through though, with 25 minutes on the clock when Richard Chadwick smashed home to temporarily settle any fears of a cup upset.

Ely's lead was a slender one going in at half-time but where the game had been tight in the first-half, things were far more one-sided after the restart and within five minutes the lead was trebled to three with Dale Archer and Brady Stone making the lead almost unassailable.

To their credit, Shelford, who play in the same league as the Ely reserve team, pulled a goal back to give themselves a glimmer of hope. Such hopes were soon quashed however, when Richard Chadwick netted his second after a sleek three-man-move with Stone and Archer.

The game died as a contest with the fourth goal and Shelford, in their efforts to net another consolation, became stretched at the back allowing substitute Tom Pell to add a fifth goal two minutes from time.

The win sees Ely progress to the next round of the Invitation Cup with their more pressing concern being their trip to mid-table Tiptree in the Ridgeons Premier this weekend.