Lightning strikes

RIDGEONS LEAGUE FIRST DIVISION Ely City 2 Stowmarket Town 0 A FEROCIOUS half-time team-talk was required, but two Tom Beech headers in as many minutes kept Ely in the title race. Ely manager Dennis Lightning said: It was as if we wanted to get the deckch

RIDGEONS LEAGUE

FIRST DIVISION

Ely City 2 Stowmarket Town 0

A FEROCIOUS half-time team-talk was required, but two Tom Beech headers in as many minutes kept Ely in the title race.

Ely manager Dennis Lightning said: "It was as if we wanted to get the deckchairs and sunglasses out in the first half.

"We looked very lethargic and some of the lads needed reminding this was a must-win game. There was a very frank exchange of views at half-time and, thankfully, a big improvement."

The first goal came in the 67th minute when Tom Pell fired in a shot from the edge of the box.

When the goalkeeper parried the ball up into the air, Beech reacted quickly and looped a header into the net.

Two minutes later, Beech made it 2-0 with a classy finish. The big striker smartly ran across his marker and met a fine Andy Chatters cross from the left wing with a thumping header into the top left-hand corner.

Nick Impey, returning from injury, replaced Robbie Mason for the final 20 minutes and he was a constant threat.

The striker found himself clean through but shot over the bar when attempting to lob the keeper, then he clipped the outside of a post with a shot from the edge of the box after a neat one-two.

Lightning said: "I'm happy with 2-0 - for a time it looked like we were never going to score, and with the top teams winning their games, we could have found ourselves in a very dodgy position.