Brantham go down 4-1 away to Ely City

Photo (left) - Adam Bloss, who had a great game in the middle of the defence and (right) goalkeeper Ryan bedingfield who made some top class saves to keep the score down. These two players were named as joint men of the match for Brantham by the Ely supporters.

RIDGEONS PREMIER DIVISION - SATURDAY APRIL 9th

ELY CITY 4 BRANTHAM ATHLETIC 1

We travelled to Ely for our first game in a couple of weeks and were looking for a good result,but we knew it would be hard with the two Ely central defenders being dominant players, as we had found out in the home game. Despite creating chances we came away on the end of a 4-1 defeat. Ely started brightly and Bridgeman had the ball in our next but it was disallowed for offside. We hit back and a good three man move involving Sean Gunn and Ollie Mann saw the ball played through to Kieran Lawler whose first time shot went just wide of the post. Ely's Chadwick broke through and only a top class save from Ryan Bedingfield denied him scoring. Ely,however, broke the deadlock when the ball was played into our area and Chadwick was the quickest to latch onto the loose ball and slot home from close range through a crowded area. We hit back with an attack on the break and Lee Grimwood running at goal saw a good shot deflected for a corner. Ely started to gain control of the midfield again and from a corner a header from Impey looked a goal until Ryan Bedingfield seemed to change direction in mid-air and tip it over the bar for a corner. Ely made it 2-0 when a quick break saw the ball played across our area and Impey turned his marker and gave Bedingfield no chance from close range. Ely then added a third goal when the ball looked as though it was going out of play and with us seeming to wait for a decision from the linesman the ball was quickly turned back into our area and Bridgeman who was rushing in made no mistake with a fierce shot into the far corner. Despite us again having a couple of half chances it was Ely who made it 4-0 when the ball was played towards the line of our area and Pettit seemed to run through almost unchallenged to hit the ball past an advancing Ryan Bedingfield. No doubt we had chances but were finding it hard to make them count while Lee Grimwood ran at the Ely defence all game with no reward at all! We thought we had pulled a goal back when a good move started deep in our half ended with Sean Gunn crossing for Marc Lowe to head home but for some reason the referee disallowed it for a foul. Lee Grimwood then went straight at goal and a ball had been played into his path and as the keeper came out the ball ended up in the net but only to see the referee disallow the goal for a previous foul! I think we somehow knew at that point that it was not going to be our day! We did finally pull back a consolation goal when a great ball was played towards the far post and Ollie Mann, despite having two defenders round him,made sure it went in at that far post. Jack Sibbons tackled an Ely player, who went down as though he had been pole-axed, and the referee pointed to the spot. However, they had not bargained on goalkeeper Ryan Bedingfield who made a world class save to deny him. Ely were still pushing men forward but they could not get anything else past Ryan who made three top draw saves to deny them, and even the Ely supporters agreed they were great stops.

Joint Brantham men of the match, as decided by the Ely people, were Ryan Bedingfield, as without some great saves we could have gone down by a lot more goals and Adam Bloss who had a very good game in the middle of the Brantham back four. One other contender might have been Marc Lowe's father, Micky, who in trying to get the ball back onto the pitch managed to hit the same stanchion twice!!.

Brantham team - 1.Ryan Bedingfield. 2-Thomas Wray. 3. Chris French. 4. Jack Sibbons. 5.Adam Bloss. 6.Kieran Lawler. 7. Marc Lowe. 8.David Grimwood. 9.Ollie Mann. 10.Lee Grimwood. 11.Sean Gunn. subs used - Simon Mann, Andy French and Lewis Blanchett. sub not used - Nathan Munson.

---barry felgate---