ELY Tigers bid for the title was dealt a telling blow at the weekend as they went down 27-7 at Ipswich YM. In a game they could barely afford to lose, Ely found themselves overwhelmed by a disciplined and relentless home attack which time and again broke

ELY Tigers' bid for the title was dealt a telling blow at the weekend as they went down 27-7 at Ipswich YM.

In a game they could barely afford to lose, Ely found themselves overwhelmed by a disciplined and relentless home attack which time and again broke through a normally steadfast defence.

Disappointed captain, Mark Mitzman, said: ""We knew that this would be a tough game but for some reason we just couldn't get through.

"Defensively today was superb but the counter attack that has finished other sides off just wasn't there, and it really showed."

The game itself started ominously for the Tigers as, straight from the kick, they found themselves harried and hassled by a menacing Ipswich side. As a result, the visitors found themselves on the defensive for much of the opening 15 minutes, a task they were hard pushed to maintain.

The breakthrough for the visitors came not long after the halfway mark as their indomitable forwards finally forged a way through the defensive to run over the first try of the match.

In the corresponding fixture earlier this season, Ely played a patient game that saw them take advantage of a flagging Ipswich side to run over a number of late scores. There was no such luck on this occasion however, as Ipswich's pressure went on unabated.

And, with Ipswich set on hammering the defensive line, it was only a matter of time before they ran over their second score, making it 15-0 at the half.

As the Tigers kicked off the second half there were moments of well drilled play reminiscent of the counter attack seen the previous week and eventually they were rewarded with a Lee Coulson try as he evaded and shrugged off three tackles to crash over and score.

With Russell adding the conversion it seemed that Ipswich had been silenced. But the venomous crowd soon whipped them in to frenzy and in the last 10 minutes Ipswich bought home a further three tries and a conversion.