Ellistown FC v Blaby & Whetstone

On a bitterly freezing day, Ellistown and Blaby battled it out and deserve great credit for putting on a show when it would have been easier to stay indoors and complete the xmas shopping via the internet.

It was Blaby who played the weather conditions better to run out 3-1 winners.

Town, know they beat themselves as they had the chances to win 3 games and defensive frailties cost us.

With the wind behind them in the 1st half, Blaby were content to pump the ball forward and turn our defense around as we struggled to get our passing game going. Credit to Blaby they were winning majority of 50/50s and had the streetwise presence to manage the game and frustrate our lads.

In return, big shout out to Jacob Stevenson who provided our attacking threat on the wing and had the beating of the full-back and wind.

Blaby took the lead on 13th mins, when a forward lump left Mackenzie Armstrong running in on goal and he made no mistake.

EFC 0-1 B&W 13 mins

Blaby doubled the lead 10 minutes later when a 30 yarder hit the post and from the rebound Jake Smith was quickest to react to make it 0-2.

EFC 0-2 B&W 24 mins

At this point, the game turned as Town took control and amazingly against the wind should have gone into the break level as our fox in box, Tom Antill was denied by the crossbar, post, and a brilliant save. All this while our fox was carrying a shoulder injury.

We went in at half-time 0-2 down but not dishearten as we knew the wind would be our 12th man in the 2nd half.

EFC 0-2 B&W HT

Our hopes of a comeback win were given a massive boost on 50 mins when from just inside the Blaby half, a Blaby defender smashed the ball against man of the match Jacob Stevenson and watched as the ball flew over the goalkeeper into the net.

EFC 1-2 B&W 50 mins

We went down to 10 men soon after as James Webster went for an early shower for 2 yellow cards but that did not hold town back as we laid siege to the Blaby goal.

With Adam Poxon bringing the ball out of defense like a world class defender and our wingers frightening the life out of the Blaby back 4, it was disappointing that we shot ourselves in the foot on 60 mins when a week back pass left our Goalscoring keeper Kelby Tyres with no option to try and play his way to safety and he beat the 1st man but not the 2nd who took the ball off him and passed it into an empty net.

EFC 1-3 B&W 60 mins

While the goal knocked the stuffing out of us, we kept going and like the 1st half missed a number of quality chances to draw and even win the game.

As the wind threaten to turn to sleet, both teams turned up the heat with some crunching challenges that were not for the faint hearted as the game turned into a battle. Proved both sets of players were giving 100% and with the final whistle rushed to the hot showers (do anyone remember to turn on the boiler) with Blaby coming out with a 3-1 victory.

EFC 1-3 B&W FT

Summary

Both sides deserve credit for putting on a show in freezing conditions and for Town this was another game we can chalk off as a learning process. We know we can match most sides in the league and as a learning process proves we are getting better at some areas and need improving in others.

We take this learning process to Cottesmore next Saturday where we are going to be tested but have the quality to put on a good show and get a result in our last game of 2021.