ELY RHC CROWNED NATIONAL LADIES CHAMPIONS!

Match Report of Ely Ladies WINNING the National Conference Competition on 6th July 2009 by our Roving Reporter Brian Barrow
ELY RHC CROWNED NATIONAL LADIES CHAMPIONS!

Ely created a big upset when they won the National Club senior ladies championship, on Sunday 5th July. Fielding a young and inexperienced squad with five 12 year olds, expectations were not high going into the tournament. However a mixture of hard work in defence, a bit of luck and great goalkeeping combined to give an unlikely victory.
The competition became a three horse race as Middlesbrough didn’t have an eligible goalkeeper, so their games became friendlies.

Ely started the competition against Bury who have a number of players in the current England Squad. There were few chances for either team in the first half with the scores 0 -0 at the break. It always seemed likely that one goal would separate the teams and that proved to be the case - going Ely’s way for a 1 – 0 victory. The whole team played superbly in defence including those playing their first ever ladies match.
The second match against Middlesbrough was won before the start; and although Ely lost it on the rink, it was a chance to develop some teamwork ahead of what proved to be the decider.

The final match was against Plymouth, who also fielded several England players. As they had drawn with Bury, Ely knew a draw was enough to win the competition. However, they got off to a bad start with some poor defending gifting Plymouth an easy goal in the first 5 minutes. Ely rode their luck several times and had to rely on Hattie Ford in goal to keep them in the match. But they never gave up battling and had several shots on goal before they finally equalised with 30 seconds left on the clock! They held out over the final few seconds to take the trophy.
TEAM - Hattie Ford, Emma Gillett, Sam Noble, Vicky Moffat, Kirsty Moffat, Hannah Barrow, Emily Barrow, Nikki Hart and Becca Sharpe.