ALAN Alsop’s first game at the helm for Ely City ended with a hard-earned point against a testing Haverhill side on Tuesday night.

Haverhill Rovers 1

Ely City 1

ALAN Alsop’s first game at the helm for Ely City ended with a hard-earned point against a testing Haverhill side on Tuesday night.

Alsop took charge of the Robins after Dennis Lighting stepped down in the wake of Ely’s FA Cup defeat to Stewarts and Lloyds Corby on Saturday and he earned his first point as boss despite his side having to play more than 25 minutes with 10 men.

Speaking to the Ely Standard, Alsop said: “The lads played some good football throughout the match and overall we were pleased with the result.

“We probably thought we had the better of the first half but the real turning point came when Ben Lawrence was sent off with about 25 minutes to go. We also lost Simon Warren a few minutes before that with an eye injury so we had to defend most of the second half without our centre backs.

“We were pleased with how the lads defended though, especially when we were coming under a lot of pressure in the later stages of the game.”

After a largely placid first half, Haverhill eventually took the lead after 55 minutes as Craig Cutts finshed well. Undettered however, City rallied and were back on terms just five minutes later as imposing midfielder Adam Murray thundered a header past the Haverhill keeper.

Though they had the impetus going into the latter stages of the game, City were soon forced on to the backk foot after Lawrence was given his marching orders for hauling down a striker through on goal.

Haverhill couldn’t convert the resulting free kick however, and despite mounting pressure in the remainder of the game, they were unable to find the net.

Alsop will once again be in charge when the Robins play host to high-flying Dereham Town on Saturday but he is still yet to make a decision as to whether he wants to take on the manager’s job full-time.

“The job is there if I want it,” he said. “I will need to think about whether I can make the commitment to doing it full time and I will also have to think about bringing in an assistant but to be honest what I am doing now is not far off what I have been doing for five years.”