ELY City were vintage and awful in the space of three days but still picked up two victories. Manager Dennis Lightning read his players the riot act as they stumbled past lowly Cornard into the Ridgeons First Division Cup semi-final on Tuesday night – win

ELY City were vintage and awful in the space of three days but still picked up two victories.

Manager Dennis Lightning read his players the riot act as they stumbled past lowly Cornard into the Ridgeons First Division Cup semi-final on Tuesday night - winning 4-2 in extra-time after Robbie Mason's last-minute leveller.

On Saturday, City leapfrogged Downham Town into second place in the Ridgeons First Division by beating them 5-2 away.

Lightning said: "Tuesday's performance was the worst I've seen in my four-year involvement in Ely."

City's squad was fully stretched with defender Ben Lawrence and midfielders Mark Kirby and Tom Pell pulling out on the day of the match with flu and Brady Stone, Russell Flitton and Andy Pettit all injured.

Lightning said: "The flu bug didn't help but the players' attitude was awful and we weren't up for it. Cornard are second-bottom with a minus 24 goal difference - I had to show the league table it to my players in the half-time team talk."

Ely went 1-0 down after two minutes through a 20-yard free-kick but Mason equalised with a close-range header 10 minutes before the break.

A suicidal pass across the penalty area was intercepted by a Cornard striker who fired his side into a 2-1 lead with 20 minutes to go.

And just as City looked like they were going out Mason scrambled the ball home after a sustained period of Ely pressure.

And Dave Daniels chased through-balls to score in the 97 and 115 minutes.

City sparkled and completely outplayed Downham Town on Saturday.

Mason collected Josh Beech's pass to put Ely 1-0 up after four minutes, the hosts equalised two minutes later and it remained 1-1 at the interval.

But three goals in the first 20 minutes of the second period put the result beyond doubt.

Mark Johnston collected goalkeeper Lee Pacey's clearance and powered home from 20 yards, before centre-back Ben Lawrence scored with a powerful header following a corner.

Almost straight after kick off Mason's snap shot from the edge of the box made it 4-1 but a defensive lapse allowed the hosts to pull one back.

And with 10 minutes left skipper Simon Warren nudged the ball over the line following a corner.