Wisbech defeated at home by Ely in league action

Wisbech suffered a 26-10 defeat at the hands of Ely Tigers at Harecroft Road in the Counties 1 Eastern Counties League on Saturday.

A brace of tries from man-of-the-match Ethan Garford were not enough for the Men in Red with the visitors running in four tries to secure a bonus point win.

Wisbech started brightly to edge the lead pressurising Ely and pinning them back deep in their half.

After several phases of play they were rewarded for their effort when returning flanker Ethan Garford powered his way over from five meters out for the home side to take a 5-0 lead.

But the visitors replied strongly with four tries through Jim Storey (2), Rob Armer and Alfie Ramswell with three conversions of the boot of Jake Alsop securing the bonus point to give Ely Tigers a commanding 26-5 half-time lead.

It was a different Wisbech team to emerge from the half-time break taking the game to Ely.

On the hour mark, Wisbech’s consistent pressure on the Tigers earned the Men in Red a penalty with skipper Jack Malkin kicking for field position to set up an attacking lineout.

Solomon Prestidge made his lineout presence felt as Wisbech launched several phases of attack.

The ball was worked down the line and centre Gerhard Wessels found a half gap to release Garford for his second try to reduce the score to 10-26 in favour of the visitors.

Ten minutes remained at Harecroft Road and Wisbech continued to battle but the away side continued to manage the game well and saw out the win 26-10.

Wisbech director of rugby Leonard Veenendaal said: “Despite the loss to a good Ely side it was a hugely-improved performance from the previous week.

“Under head coach Gerhard Wessels the boys worked hard in training this week addressing the issues from the previous week.

“But it was a game of two halves and we need to deliver that excellent second-half performance for the full 80 minutes”

Wisbech will next be in action when they are away at Ipswich YM on February 17.