Gorleston 1 Ely 5

Goreston Hockey Club had to call in a number of old boys to field a side to play against the league leaders Ely City on Saturday.

With a number of players unavailable, old boys Peter and Bobby Jones and Chris Slack returned to make sure Gorleston could field a full side.

Despite the rearranged shape of the side, Gorleston did not look out of place for the opening exchanges of the game and even had a series of short corners awarded, but were unable to make them count.

Ely are a good hockey team with some exciting young players and eventually their superior team play paid off, winning short corners of their own and taking the lead from a well-worked routine. Then close to the end of the first half, Ely broke up a Gorleston attack and fed the ball around the pitch to end up in the Gorleston goal.

Herman Cheung had an impressive game in the centre of the Gorleston defence and the score could have been more if it was not for his strength and determination in the many tackles he made.

Gorleston started the second half of the game and their persistence paid dividends when a ferocious pass from Chris Slack evaded everyone on the Ely circle except Bobby Jones who stole in at the back post to pull one back for Gorleston.

Moments later, it was so nearly even when Pete Jones intercepted a cross pitch pass near the top of the circle and was presented with a one-on-one opportunity against the Ely keeper.

Unfortunately, the visitor’s Keeper was on his toes and steered PJ’s shot away. Chris Slack then popped up again to meet a pass from the Gorleston midfield and break through the Ely defence, but again the Ely Keeper prevented a strike on goal.

Ely then responded in kind, as they broke through the Gorleston midfield to crash a shot home and extend their lead. As the game went into the last 10 minutes, Gorleston’s makeshift team visibly tired and Ely took the opportunity to score two more goals in the last five minutes, to finish the game as deserved 5-1 winners.

Gorleston can take great heart from a battling performance, but were just not good enough to take any points from a strong Ely team.

MoM: Herman Cheung for his battling display in defence.

Squad: B King (C), K MacDonald, J Higginbotham, H Cheung, Jason Austin, B Jones, M Vaudin, R Pallant, R Crawford, C Slack, P Jones.