Ely City 5 Harleston Magpies III 1

ELY went into the weekend level on points at the top of the table with Harleston Magpies and came out the other side three points clear after a magnificent display.

Ely didn’t have to wait long for their first chance as returning midfielder Dan Jolly spotted a gap and played the ball into the Magpies’ D at speed, gifting Rob Radcliffe a simple tap in at the post to put Ely into an early lead.

Buoyed by their early score, Ely continued to wait patiently for the gaps to appear and after a few minutes of sinuous passing and moving, the ball was picked up in the midfield by Kisby, who darted through the Magpies midfield before selflessly setting up skipper Stu Clarke to make it 2-0.

The pressure continued from the Ely side as Radcliffe burst through into the opposition D and after a goalmouth scramble, it was the ever reliable Chris Purllant who picked his spot and rifled the ball into the side of the goal passed a flailing Magpies keeper.

With the score at 3-0, Ely looked to relax and let the pace drop off. Magpies spotted the opportunity and began to show their class. The pressure on the Ely defence eventually yielded a short corner, which the visitors converted in a fashion reminiscent of the stroke that had won them the game when the two sides met before Christmas.

At half-time, Ely resolved to start the second half as they had the first, and regained control of the game immediately after the restart.

It fell to third team regular Tomas Rutlington, making a rare appearance in the midfield, and briefly showing some promise as an emerging talent for the future, to break the second half deadlock as he threaded the ball through winger Jack Upton, who tapped in at the post to put Ely firmly back in control.

Ely heeded their captain’s call to maintain the pressure and leading goal scorer Chris Vincett was unlucky not to increase the lead as his powerful shot bounced off the post. Kisby was denied a goal as he missed an easy conversion at the far post, following a well timed pass across goal from Vincett. But Vincett was not going to miss the opportunity to add his name to the score sheet and as Ely won a short corner, he stepped up from the top of the D and drag flicked into the corner of the goal.

Ely will be looking to continue their winning form next week as they play Gorelston on Saturday.