Ely City reach another Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup final with 2-1 victory over Newmarket Town

Ely City’s recent love affair with the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup continued on Tuesday night.

After lifting the trophy in back-to-back seasons between 2011 and 2013, the Robins went on to reach four straight finals either side of Covid-19 abandonments, coming out on top on two occasions.

And they will now have the opportunity to win the competition for the seventh time in the club’s history after their 2-1 victory over higher-league Newmarket Town in the semi-finals.

Guy Habbin’s side fell behind after just five minutes at the Demcom Stadium to Efraim Romanos’ driven effort, but they rallied and that deficit had been overturned before the break courtesy of goals from Tobi Lawal and Jack Friend.

And while the Step 4 visitors had plenty of possession after the restart, a well-organised Ely outfit were able to keep them at arm’s length.

Ely will now battle it out for the silverware with March Town United in the final, which will be held at Cambridge City’s recently-opened FWD/IP Community Stadium in Sawston on April 29.

“In the first 15 minutes or so we were trying to acclimatise to the tempo of the game,” said boss Habbin.

“Obviously with them being a Step 4 side and having been a very, very good side at our level last season, it just took us a little while to get used to it.

“We were so keen before the game to do well and because we were so keen, we got caught a little bit higher up the pitch than how we try to approach games of football.

“I know it’s an old adage but goals do change games and when we get our first goal in games, the belief it gives us is massive.

“We were able to speak about a couple of things at half-time and managed to rectify the problems that we were having.

“Without having the ball we had more control in the second half. We’d have liked to have offered a bit more going forward, but we were happy to be without the ball.

“It’s all about the lads and what they do – and they were brilliant. They’ve done so well and they’ve stood up to every challenge over the whole season. They deserve to have a cup final to look forward to.”

The midweek triumph came hot on the heels of Saturday’s 2-1 victory at Thetford Town – a result that moved Ely back into the Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division play-off places.

It is a position in which few would have expected Ely to be in at this stage of the season, and it is something that Habbin has attributed to the togetherness within the squad.

He added: “This group of lads genuinely all get on and I can’t tell you how tight-knit they are.

“That’s massive because when it is hard and when it is tough – and you all scrap together – you can definitely do more.

“We’ve played teams this season where I don’t think we’ve necessarily been better than them, but we’ve been more together than them and that counts for a lot.

“We just want to enjoy our football and play with the shackles off – and wherever we end up there’s no pressure.”

Third-placed Ely head to Walsham-le-Willows (6th) on Saturday (3pm).