Ewell were set to encounter another old foe when they entertained Greenside at the Fortress for their last home game of 2013. The fixtures between the two produced goals aplenty last season; with Ewell triumphing 3-1 and 7-2 respectively, and the hosts needed to chalk up another victory in order to maintain their promotion push.
Ewell made a fairly ragged start to proceedings and it took them a while to get into anything like full tilt. They enjoyed the lion's share of possession but were largely unable to convert this into chances of note, yet they did threaten Greenside from set pieces. They thought that they had broken the deadlock at around the 20 minute mark when Chipperton steered the ball home after some penalty area pinball; yet the referee had spotted a handball somewhere in the scramble. The initial chance landed at the feet of the one man you didn't want it to, A. Williams, who thumped his effort into Chipperton's crotchal region, passing up the chance to score his first goal of the century in the process.
Ewell had to remain patient and finally opened the scoring courtesy of a Keogh header. Bullock's inswinging corner was inviting and Keogh stole a march on his marker and deftly glanced the ball into the far corner with a well executed near post header. Buoyed by this effort and the spectre of the Crescent Rovers 'A' game, Ewell continued their search for more goals to gain some breathing space. However, the visitors levelled the game on the brink of half-time, when a seemingly innocuous freekick drifted over a number of heads before nestling in the bottom corner. Needless to say, Ewell were somewhat stunned and trudged off at the interval feeling aggrieved. The only consolation was that they had another 45 minutes to make ammends and avoid dropping valuable points once again.
Ewell started the half with a renewed sense of purpose and were rewarded within 15 minutes, when they retook the lead. Clancy capitalised on some defensive uncertainty when Greenside failed to deal with a freekick, supplying the finishing touch from the 6-yard box. Unsurprisingly, this sparked a fightback from the away side, yet Ewell continued to probe their backline and managed to cement their position with a third with 10 minutes to play. Patient build up play down the right flank freed Chipperton, allowing him to stand a ball up to the penalty spot for Bullock to attack. Bullock meet the ball crisply and directed his header into the bottom corner, much to the relief of the home team. The game was then put beyond all doubt with 5 minutes left on the clock, as Clancy chested the ball into the back of the net after Chipperton's freekick had been palmed away by the Greenside keeper.
Whilst 4-1 did not overly flatter Ewell, they did have to work hard and remain patient throughout the game, which was delicately poised for extended periods. The victory was made all the more pleasing by the fact that Ewell's goal tally was only the second occasion in which they'd notched 4 or more this season.