Shelford 5ths 0 : 48 Ely 3rds (written by Richard Craddock)
 
It was the best of times , it was the worst of times. The mighty 5ths travelled light this week , but the 13 who made the short 16 miles up the A10 and 30 years back in time were full of hope and what I call fire.
We stood in the car park and felt sorry for those who couldn't make it, the once tumultuous numbers of recent weeks had crumbled away like an Oxo cube and we knew we were in for a long afternoon. Ely clearly had been reading of  our scrummaging prowess so had asked for uncontested scrums , we in turn had asked for the return of the Elgin Marbles and for any spare players. What we were given (Ben) you could just about call a player but ( I know he'll find out about this) his best years are pure pantomine (behind you !)
The opening were rough and tumble like a pair of trainers in a washing machine (no Kate I don't wash my trainers in the washing machine) and we surprised them with a powerful show of running and strength typical of the mighty 5ths.

The lads gave everything , including blood Eric (more of Eric's blood later) and we were nearly on the score sheet a number of times. Superior numbers were Ely's trump card and the ability to counter attack and the referee's occasional weird decisions ! We used the wind and came close to the Ely try line only failing due to panic/overexcitement.

 

Names on the roster of acheivement this week are Lee Coney who again showed his natural ability as a winger , Les (73 if a day !) , Tom Q, Man of the Match ( can't name him because when I do we never see them again ! ) , Chris M (who technically is dead from the waist down ) and Eric whose profuse bleeding led to the most amusing moment of the game - Julian will never be able to look at a pot of Vaseline again !!
We battled on and in territorial terms we ruled for a majority of the game only allowing a simple slip of concentration to let Ely in with their youthful backs / Can Can dancing wing forward to score another try. The tackling was strong again, if patchy by the fly half, and we could have made a decent game of it with more players. We will all sleep well tonight knowing we left everything on that pitch (including stuff that Julian can never look at)  . Thank you lads for being there and making an afternoon of it . I hope that this blip in numbers will never again darken my door and I hope to have to make actual substitutions next week. Thank you again and keeeeeeep playing. SCD. Diary note - Social night is 4th Feb. Leaves humming theme to The Dambusters