Football Godmanchester Rovers 2 Ely City 3

Alan Alsop’s Ely grabbed all three points with a last-gasp goal at high-flyers Godmanchester on Saturday.

The game looked to be heading for a draw when striker Andrew Claydon muscled his way through the defence and lashed home from 20 yards to gift Ely a precious win in their bid to climb free of the drop zone.

Alsop admitted the win was “unexpected” considering Godmanchester are currently second in the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division but was turned out to be “a great way to start the new year”.

He said: “I thought we just about deserved to nick it in the end, especially the way we were putting the pressure on late in the game.

“Godmanchester are very tough to beat at home and I thought we did an excellent job. We had a number of players returning from injury and that gave us a much better shape.

“What we need to focus on now is turning our home form around. We seem to play with freedom away but as soon as we go behind at home, heads drop and we play like we know we are going to lose.”

Ely were gifted the ideal start to the game when Goddy’s Charlie Bowen was given a straight red card after hauling down Andrew Claydon as he was sent clear and Lewis McDonald smashed home the resulting free-kick.

And Ely doubled the lead less than 10 minutes later as Matt Morris scored a rare goal.

Godmanchester were not dead and buried, however, and James Hall pulled a goal back for the hosts shortly before half-time.

Matters worsened after the break as Joe Furness put Goddy level but Ely redoubled their efforts and had a number of good chances before Claydon settled matters in the 88th minute.

The win keeps Ely in 18th place in the league but moves them level on points with 17th placed Thetford Town, who they welcome to the Unwin Ground on Saturday.