Pelicans suffer first defeat in close affair

Pelicans suffered their first defeat of the season and relinquished top of the table as they lost 3-0 on their travels at Ipswich.Although the scoreline suggests a pretty one-sided affair this was from it.On another day, Pelicans would have found themselves on the right side of the scoreline.They suffered early injuries to key players and perhaps didn’t get the rub of the green in other areas, which was also noted by opposition members in the bar after the game.The game’s first big chance fell the way of the league leaders. Good work from the front two of Jacob Craig and Miles Doncaster saw the latter narrowly shoot wide from close range.Ipswich, however, passed the ball nicely throughout and took the lead with a well-struck finish on the reverse stick.Pelicans defenders Ian Simons, Chris Page, Iain Page, Jason Esser and Sam Major were kept busy throughout the seventy minutes but they rode out the storm until half-time, along with Dan Upton in goal. Despite the deficit, the Pelicans were confident that they could turn the scoreline around and started positively with captain Sam Phillips and fellow midfielders Ollie Booth and Kirwin Christoffels. Booth was tenacious throughout and worked hard all over the pitch.The crucial second goal arrived for Ipswich from a short corner which was slightly controversial and could have easily been disallowed on another day for dangerous play in the build-up.However, a shot flying into the top corner was unsavable for Upton. The third goal followed soon after from another short corner and with that the game was over.However, despite being depleted with first-half injuries to Jack Major, Sid Carpenter and Toby Phillips Pelicans continued to drive forward and offered up chances to Craig, Phillips and Doncaster but they all failed to find the net. Although this means a first defeat in the Premier Division for Pelicans, the talk after the game was one of positivity that they weren’t completely outplayed by a side who were playing a division higher last season and one of determination that they will do everything possible to put things right when they host Letchworth on Saturday (3pm).Pelicans MoM sponsored by 4Way: Ollie Booth.