Burnham Ramblers 0, Ely City 0

Ramblers won 4-2 on penalties

There were scenes of celebration at Leslie Field on Saturday (22 October) as Ramblers won a penalty shoot-out to make it into the second round proper of the FA Vase for the first time in ten seasons.

Three times before Ramblers have faced penalty shootouts in the Vase, beating Bedford Unted (2003) and Stanway Rovers (200-6) and losing to Newbury Forest in 2020.

They made it a hat-trick of shoot-out wins after Saturday's clash with Ely City ended goalless.

The win against Stanway came in a season when they reached the fourth round, the club's second best ever run, eventually losing to Street. In the 1988-89 season they went all the way to the fifth round, winning six matches without conceding a goal before losing to Bury Town.

Ramblers made a bright start to Saturday's tie and Shemarie Perkins' early volley went just over the bar.

The early pressure all came from Ramblers but they were grateful to keeper Ben Loftus for a fine save on 24 minutes.

That sparked a spell of pressure from Ely but Ramblers weathered it and in the closing stages of the half Perkins again went close and then saw another shot blocked on the line.

The second half followed a similar pattern, again with Perkins showing himself to be Ramblers' danger man.

The half ended with Ramblers well on top but they were unable to make the pressure pay and so the match went to penalties.

Ely had first option from the spot but missed two of their first three while Ramblers' players kept their nerve, converting all their kicks to confirm a 4-2 shoot-out win.

The final kick came from Taylor Banks who sent the Ely keeper the wrong way to spark scenes of celebration from the majority in one of the largest crowds at Leslie Field for some seasons.