Dereham Town 3 Ely City 2

A PENALTY in the dying minutes of the match denied Ely a point in a tempestuous match in Norfolk on Tuesday night.

Despite twice taking the lead, the Robins were pegged back by the home side, who were awarded a penalty late on to snatch all three points, while Ely finished the match with nine men after red cards for Darren Coe and captain Lee Pacey.

The defeat sees Ely tumble to 14th place in the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division, without a win to their name so far this season.

Boss Alan Alsop said: “I’m just disappointed for the lads because they worked so hard and didn’t deserve to lose that game. It is going to take a little while for the new and old players to get to know eachother but they have done really well so far.

“To dominate the game as much as we did during the first half makes it a tough result to swallow, we hit the bar twice and their keeper made some great saves but I think the luck just wasn’t with us.”

Andrew Claydon continued his rich vein of form by opening the scoring for Ely early on, mopping up a flicked header from Coe but a penalty late on in the first half saw the Robins pegged back.

Undeterred, the Robins continued to dictate play in the early stages of the second half and Richard Gammon made it four goals in two games with a good finish.

A breakaway goal with 20 minutes to play saw the hosts draw level and Coe saw red after his challenge in the area yielded a penalty for the hosts.

Goalkeeper Lee Pacey was handed a straight red by the referee for kicking-out at a player late in the match.

The defeat came just three days after a hat-trick from Richard Gammon capped a superlative 7-1 win for Ely City over Rothwell Corinthians in the FA Cup.

After a relatively flat first half, Ely shifted through the gears during the second period, running in six goals, including three from Gammon, who was only introduced into the fray after an injury to Dave Smith.

The win saw Ely progress to the first preliminary round, where they will travel to Bugbrooke St Michael, in Northamptonshire, on August 25.