Sileby Town v Ellistown FC

I've been watching football for 45 years and been lucky enough to watch European Cup finals, Domestic Cup finals, Teams winning Premierships and giving into relegation. I've even seen my team go through a season without winning a game.

During these years, apart from the Wigan bench when they were 8-0 down to Chelsea and glad to be on the bench, I've never seen a happy subs bench.

It's no different in the Leicestershire Senior League and as I took my place with the Ellistown subs for our game v Sileby Town it was clear we had subs who thought they should be playing.

This shows how far Ellistown have come since the days we were lucky to find 11 players, let alone a squad of 16 who want to play for us.

The key to being a sub, is how you react and even though your frustrated support the team.

Credit to our subs, they did exactly that and one of those Jake Mcloughlin stepped up to the mark to fire Ellistown to a 2-1 away victory.

In another cracking game of football, Ellistown continued the 2nd half form from Saturday to deserve the 3 points.

This was a fantastic team performance, with every player giving everything. Credit to Sileby who contributed to the game and came mighty close in the closing moments to get the point.

We took the lead on 30 mins when a sweeping attacking move allowed Aaron Windram to reach the by-line and cross for Jamine Nelson to head into an empty net.

ST 0-1 EFC 30 mins

We expected a Sileby back-lash and we got it, but we held them at bay as we defended with 2 banks of 4 and looked to hit Jamine and Aaron on the break.

We were therefore disappointed when Sileby got back into the game on 39 minutes when a shot hit a Sileby forwards arm and landed kindly for Mark Tinsey who bundled the ball and keeper Warwick Miller inches over the line.

Where is VAR and goal line technology when you need it.

ST 1-1 EFC 39 mins and HT

The 2nd half started with Sub Jake Mcloughlin coming on for Dan Martin who had given everything in the 1st half. You sensed Jake had a point to prove and with flying winger Calum York moving to the wing, we started to dominate midfield and create chances.

You could see the team playing with confidence and additional substitutions saw key minutes for Adam Poxon and Steve Jakovlevs and ensured fitness levels were maintained.

Key moment of the game came on 85 minutes when we were awarded a direct free kick 35 yards from goal. No problem for Jake Mcloughlin who blasted the ball home for one of the best free-kicks I've seen in my 45 years of watching football.

ST 1-2 EFC 85 mins

Could we hold on, as we went 10-0-1 and Sileby went 1-0-10. The last 5 mins of normal time were played in our penalty area and bodies were put on the line as we also took the luck to hold onto our lead as we moved into injury time.

It was deep into injury time, when you knew this Ellistown team are a team as after a rare attack, Sileby punted the ball over our last line of defence and the centre forward who had a yard start on Dec Grewcock and was clear on goal.

With the crowd holding its breath, Dec managed to make up the yard but could not tackle the centre forward and after some arm barging, both Dec and the centre forward fell down 25 yards out from goal. Older readers, think back to Rocky 2 and Rocky and Apollo falling at the end of the fight and you get my drift.

The referee had no choice but to show Dec a Red Card. In old fashioned terms, Dec took one for the team and for that he is our man of the match.

The resulting free-kick went for a corner which resulted in a 20 yard shot that Warwick Miller tipped over.

At that point, the ref blew for full-time and we could all relax as Ellistown took the 3 points.

ST 1-2 EFC FT

Summary

This was a great team performance that everyone associated with Ellistown can be proud of.

Those subs who did not get on will get key game time as we go through the season.

Our victory took us to 4 points from 2 games which is our best start to the season for 4 years.

Many thanks to Sileby who always look after us.

League Cup action next as we go to Highfield Rangers next Tuesday.

Up the town.