under 13s Blues and under 15s

Ely under 15s played their last tournament of the season. With their regular goalkeeper unable to play James Walsh stepped in and put in an excellent performance in hi s first ever 1st Division tournament.
 
Ely’s first match was against Peterborough a team with three players who have been playing men’s premier league this year. The difference in experience showed in the first half and Peterborough established a good lead at half time. In the second half Ely started with all girls on the rink inc Heather Dunnand playing her first under 15s  tournament. They didn’t disgrace themselves holding the much older boys for several minutes. With Ely’s older players back on the later stages were fairly even with Ely scoring 3 times for a respectable 8 – 3 loss (scorers Max Dunnand2, Simon Thompson).
 
The next game against Cottenham was a tight affair throughout, goals by Dunnand and Callum Thoday were just not enough and Ely lost 3 – 2. The last match against Bury was again close from the start, a short spell of poor defending was the difference between the two teams with 2 goals from Thoday and one from Thompson not enough with Bury winning 5 – 3.
 
The Ely Blues in the under 13s 1st Division had a disastrous start with their goalie breaking her arm in a warm up accident. The team rallied around and shared the Keeper duties  out but  the day showed the importance of having a good goalkeeper which is a specialist position in roller hockey.  Despite the setback the first game against Norwich was a close affair with 2 goals by Emily Barrow and one by Ryan Norton keeping Ely in touch with the opposition. With the scores at 6 – 3 Ely reverted to playing 5 and no goalkeeper for the final 5 minutes which is allowed under the new rules, Despite peppering the Norwich goal they couldn’t  find the back of the net but let no more in.
 
The next game was against Kings Lynn & Ely found themselves one down after 20 seconds, 2 goals from Barrow and another clean sheet in another  final 5 minute power play wasn’t enough and Lynn won 11 – 2. This set the scene for the remainder of the day with Cottenham and Bury also putting 11 past the stand in goalies. 2 goals from Norton and 1 from Heather Dunnand  being the only consolation.