Ely City boss Brady Stone hailed his side’s performance in the opening 45 minutes of their clash with Haverhill Borough as the best he had seen since arriving at the club after a first-half flourish of goals helped them to a 2-0 triumph.

Ely Standard: Ely City manager Brady Stone.Ely City manager Brady Stone. (Image: Archant)

Stone watched from the sidelines as the Robins flew into a two-goal lead before the break thanks to strikes from Liam Griffin and skipper James Seymour.

The visitors couldn’t add to their tally in the second half, but Stone was still satisfied with the Robins’ dynamic display last Friday.

He said: “I’m delighted about how well we played. It was the best first half performance I’ve seen since I’ve been at the club.

“We’ve been saying we need to defend from the front more and that’s exactly what we did. The work rate, commitment and desire the players showed was excellent. It could have been five or six in the first half.”

The Ely boss was also pleased to see the Robins keep a clean sheet for the first time since their 1-0 away success at fellow promotion chasers King’s Lynn Town back at the beginning of January.

“I said last week we needed to stop leaking goals and we did exactly that on Friday,” he said.

“We’ve needed to do more to protect Harry Reynolds in goal. I don’t think they managed a shot on goal all game.”

Ely remain on track for promotion back to the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division following their third successive league triumph, and only trail second-placed Great Yarmouth Town on goal difference.

Up next for Stone’s men is a trip to a Needham Market Reserves, who have been plunged into turmoil after having to postpone their clash with March Town after they were unable to raise a team.

Questions have been raised over the future of the club after Saturday’s cancellation, but Stone is hoping that their encounter this weekend will go ahead.

He said: “It’s not looking good for them. There’s been talk about them dropping out of the league but hopefully we will have a game on Saturday after such a good performance on Friday. We want to keep the momentum going.”

The Robins are set to be at full-strength for their visit to the club at the bottom of the league, and will be buoyed by the comeback of Matty Simpson who returned to action in Ely’s success at Haverhill last week.