Brady Stone made sure hat-trick hero Jordan Foster wasn’t going to be the one who got away from him.

The Ely City boss tried to sign Foster last summer after he left Eastern Counties Premier rivals Newmarket Town, but the frontman instead dropped into the county leagues with Great Shelford.

But Brady finally got his man last week when Foster, having scored 18 goals to help Shelford win the Kershaw Premier title, signed on the dotted line for the Robins.

Having made his debut in Saturday’s win at Gorleston, Foster showed the Ely fans just what they can expect with all three goals in Tuesday night's 3-1 win over Mildenhall Town.

“I tried to sign Jordan last year but he was an university and it didn’t work out, but he’s got a placement back in Cambridge so I jumped at the chance,” said Brady.

“He’s young with lots of pace and knows where the net is. He had a great season with Shelford, and to be honest, he could even play at a higher level than this.

“He reminds me of Lewis Whitehead, who also dropped into the county league after leaving Newmarket and came back stronger. There’s some great players in that league, it’s just finding the right ones.”

Foster’s heroics meant an Ely side who flirted dangerously with relegation last season have now won their opening two games, but Brady isn’t getting too carried away.

“We know we’re only two games in, so we’re keeping our feet on the floor and keeping working hard as there’s plenty of room for improvement,” he added.

“But all credit to the lads, we’ve won away from home on the opening day and then beaten one of the favourites for the title. I’d have taken three points from those two games to be honest.

“We showed what we are about in the last two months of last season, kept that team spirit and added well to the squad. There’s so much togetherness in the side, and we need to keep that going.

“They just need to believe in each other, because myself and (assistant manager) Martin Grey do, and if they do we’ll have a good season.”

Mildenhall, by contrast, have now lost both games on their return to the Eastern Counties Premier following relegation from the Isthmian League, Jack Brame scoring their consolation at Ely.

Another team expected to do well who have had a poor start are Godmanchester Rovers, who followed their opening day loss with a 2-0 home defeat to Haverhill Rovers, Josh Revell and Jordan Palmer netting for the visitors.

But Newmarket Town bounced back from their opening day defeat to beat Long Melford 4-1, thanks to goals from James Seymour, Jack Watson, Ben Robinson and Mark Lovell.

In Division One North, Haverhill Borough, having been forced to cancel their opening game, finally got under way with a 2-1 win over AFC Sudbury Reserves, Tom Thurlbourne bagging both goals.

Meanwhile, Great Shelford won this year’s Terry Wilson Memorial Cup with a 5-4 penalty shoot out win against Over Sports after Friday’s final had finished 2-2.

It was Great Shelfords 27th win in the 48th year of the competion. This year’s charity was Fulbourn Action For Youth, who were presented with a cheque for £2,200 after the match.