under 11s and ladies both lose cup finals

Ely played in two finals in the Eastern Counties Cup finals day. First to play were the under 11s who had won the league so were going for the double. The opposition were Kings Lynn who had finished the season strongly, so were going to be difficult to beat. Unfortunately this was made harder by Ely being down to only 3 outfielders and a stand in goalie as Molly Williams was still recovering from here broken arm. Ely however still put up a brave performance scoring twice in an 8 – 2 defeat.
 
In the ladies Ely were up against Bury. Bury were missing their England ladies captain and vice captain but were still able to field an England senior goalkeeper and 4 others who played for the England Under 19s last year. Ely’s goalie was carrying a shoulder injury which is a difficult injury for a goalie to carry in roller hockey.
 
 Ely’s less experienced team started badly letting in 3 early goals scored from distance. Ely started to settle but a counter attack from Bury gave them a fourth. A good spell of defending kept the score at 4 – 0 into the break. In the second half Ely looked a different team and started to attack the Bury goal with more pace. A goal from Hannah Barrow gave them some early hope. However Bury came back when a goal mouth loose ball was poked home to restore the 4 goal lead.
 
In the later stages Ely had several chances but couldn’t find good shots in front of goal until Barrow scored her second with 2 minutes to go. This is how the scores ended with Ely in effect defeated in the first 15 minutes of the match, so they will hope to start better next time, when they meet the same opposition in the National Championships.