A late goal denied Ely City their first Thurlow Nunn Premier Division point of the season as they went down 2-1 to Ipswich Wanderers on Saturday.

The Robins fell behind in the first half through George Mrozek, but looked certain to secure their first point of the campaign when Matty Simpson hooked in a leveller early in the second half.

Ely’s hearts were broken when Mrozek netted a winner three minutes from time, sending Brady Stone’s men to a second consecutive league defeat.

Stone made one change from the Robins’ 4-1 FA Cup defeat to Deeping Rangers with Joe Peacock making his first start in the Robins red while Mason Newman took his place on the bench.

The bench was thin on the ground with holidays and injuries still biting hard into the full squad of players, but Spencer Saberton made his first appearance.

The game opened up brightly for the Robins with Peacock finishing tamely and George Darling going close before the home side settled. To Peacock’s’ despair it was when he had that early chance that he aggravated an ankle problem that had been bothering him during pre-season and he was forced off with Newman taking his place.

The home side began to grow into the game and after having a couple of chances it was in the 20th minute when a Ipswich corner was not completely cleared and the ball fell to Mrozek outside of the box who had the time and the accuracy to beat Harry Reynolds.

The goal seemed to settle Ipswich and they created the better chances throughout the half. Robins captain James Seymour came close when he blasted over and Ely went in at the break a goal down but still in the game.

The work rate and tempo that was such a feature of the side for most of last season reappeared in the second half and it took only six minutes for the away side to draw level.

Jamie Alsop swung in a free kick and Simpson got ahead of his marker to deflect the ball onto the defender and into the back of the net.

The Robins then went on the front foot and looked most likely to grab all three points. Headers from Seymour and Simpson flew over and then a shot from Simpson had the keeper making a fairly comfortable save.

Ely were causing the home side problems down the right hand side, with Simpson and Daniel Jeffrey working well together.

However, all of Ely’s hard work was undone when a through ball on the Wanderers right found Mrozek in the box and he squeezed the ball past the advancing Reynolds.

After a third consecutive defeat in all competitions, boss Stone has the job of lifting his players for another away game at Fakenham on Wednesday night.