A dominant performance from Town saw them ease into the League Cup Semi-Final with an excellent 3-1 away win at Thurnby Rangers.

This performance has been coming but Thurnby will be disappointed as they contributed to their own downfall. A position Ellistown have been in most of the season.

With Town expecting the usual tough battle against a full-strength Thurnby side, it was a pumped up Town side that took to the pitch and dominated the early stages but could not fashion clear cut chances their play deserved.

Our midfield battalion of Matty Hart, Ruben Wilson, Conor Page, Kieron Hickman and Noah Fitzgerald were excellent as they pressed and wore down the Thurnby midfield. At the back, Jamie Santos, Captain, Leader, Legend Sam Aldhouse, Chris Sykes and young Ben Hollingsworth swept up everything and Nick "The Cat" Graham was having a quiet debut in goal.

It was our man of match, Thurnby's Farron Pope who got Ellistown going in a crazy 13 minutes spell when on 19 minutes, he handed a harmless cross in the box for a straight forward penalty and yellow card.

Up stepped Jack Bonell who was enjoying his battle with Farron to score the penalty.

TRFC 0-1 EFC 19 mins

A goal Ellistown deserved but had we poked the bear as you sensed the Thurnby frustration. The answer was no as on 32 minutes, Farron tangled off the ball with Jack and was shown a 2nd Yellow and red card.

Our Captain stepped up to take the free-kick 25 yards out and it was a beauty that Harry Jones the Thurnby keeper done well to save and parry the ball out. Lucky for Town, the ball fell to Kieron Hickman who could not miss from 5 yards. About time we got some luck.

TRFC 0-2 EFC 32 mins

Town were in dreamland and controlling the game. As you would expect, Thurnby tried to up the work rate but we coped well and went into the dressing room at half-time 2-0 up and in control of our destiny.

TRFC 0-2 EFC HT

2nd half continued on from the 1st half with Town in control and Thurnby went for broke. The 3rd goal was crucial and on 60 mins it was Ellistown who got it, when Matty Hart turned and twisted in the penalty box to smash home the goal.

TRFC 0-3 EFC 60 mins

This is Ellistown so no way was this game over. From 65 mins, we freshened the side with Harry Fairbrother, Devon King, Matthew Leek, Micky Hill and Oluwanifemi Aribisala coming on. No surprise, this disrupted the flow of the side but we were comfortable.

An Ellistown game would not be complete without an defensive error and this game was no different as on 83 mins we gave away a cheap free-kick just outside the box. Up stepped the Thurnby striker who forced the Cat into a superb save but it also left Caleb Okoro the simple task of tapping home the rebound.

TRFC 1-3 EFC 83 mins

Here we go again came the groan from our supporters as Thurnby played like they had 15 players on the pitch and not 10 as we panicked and withdrew to our penalty box.

On 87 mins, the 2nd crucial moment of the game took place as a Thurnby shot from 20 yards was on its way to the corner of our net when out of nowhere the Cat dived and saved it. A match winning save from a keeper who had an excellent debut.

You sensed that save sucked the wind out of Thurnby as they knew then the game was up.

Town comfortably saw out the last couple minutes to take a moral boosting win and a place in the league cup semi-final.

Credit to John Carr and his assistants, Graham Freer and Mark Haywood, who had excellent games.

Summary

Well done team, a great victory that sets us up for the crucial league run in as we have to climb off the bottom of the league while looking forward to a cup semi-final.

We go back to Thurnby next Saturday in a vital league fixture knowing they will want to put right the wrongs of today. So lads, enjoy the weekend, re-focus and train hard in midweek as we need another performance like this one.

As always, Thurnby hospitality was 1st class and Pat, Ian and the backroom team deserve a lot of credit. See you next week.