Busy day for under 13s

Both Ely under 13s teams were in action in the 1st Division of the Eastern Counties Leagues. The players all played in Division 2 last season so this year’s matches are proving more difficult. This proved the case with both teams having an opening match against Herne Bay United from Kent who have several players who were part of the Championship winning team last year.
 
The Greens actually took the lead in their match but Herne Bay soon fought back. Ely were a bit slow to defend at times particularly in the later stages and eventually fell 9 – 3. The Blues has a poor start letting in a goal in the first few seconds. However they then defended fantastically, keeping the score to 1 – 0 for more than 10 minutes. Just as the team were starting to find some confidence going forward with several shots on goal, slack defending gifted the opposition two more goals. In the second half the defending from everyone and goalkeeping of Molly Williams was superb and Herne Bay could find only one more goal to leave the result a very creditable 4 – 0.
 
Both teams then played Kings Lynn the league leaders after tournament 1. It was the Greens turn to shine as they ‘sped’ into a 6 – 1 lead in their match. Over confidence then set in and the opposition pulled 4 goals back before half time. Ely stepped up again in the second half and kept their nerve for an 10 -8 win with Paul Masterton getting five of the Ely goals (other scorers Hattie Ford and Jake Kendall). The Blues fared less well with a sole goal by Emily Barrow in an 8 -1 loss.
 
The Greens then played Bury who were having a good day. Again Ely started slowly and were soon down 3 – 0. However in a great spell of teamwork, including, some excellent passing the score was soon 3 -3. Unfortunately Bury fought back and regained their 3 goal lead. This time there was no coming back with Ely eventually losing 10 – 6 (goals Masterton 3, Ford 2 & Kendall
 
The final match pitted the two Ely teams against each other and as with last season it was one of the matches of the day with neither side wanting to lose. The Blues took the lead through Nikki Hart but the Greens came back, only for the Blues to retake the lead via Vicky Moffatt. They held the lead for some time with both goalkeepers playing well but it was the Greens who found 2 late goals to win 3 – 2 (goals Masterton, Kendall and Ford).