Having battled the winds howling across the fields on the way to Ely, we arrived at the pitch to find it littered with goals which had blown over. Not only that but the hut we were so looking forward to sheltering in had been blown clean through the astro fence into the field behind, much to the surprise of the cows!

With team Emma and Hayley cheering us on from the sidelines, we kicked off. The first five minutes or so were a little shaky – Captain Vicky was trying out a new formation today, on account of previous matches against this team. We had three upfront (Bex, Mel and Charlie), an attacking central midfield in the form of Cat and AI, ably supported on the wings by Helen and Jodee, and a trio of formidable defenders, namely Louise, Pip and Vicky. With Lou in goal and super-sub Sarah ready on the sidelines, we were putting out a strong team, and experimenting with three in defence, to try and further improve on our earlier matches against this side.

After we had settled down into the new shape, the goals began to flow. A few were stormers, a few were scrappy, but we managed to put the ball into the back of the net TEN times in the first half alone. The few breaks that Ely had, our defence dealt with well, and we were quickly on to the counter attack. We were playing really good hockey, using the width well and stringing together good passages of passing and working the ball into the D. Knowing that the defence were there to mop up any pressure from Ely meant that the forwards were able to attack freely, with the midfield getting amongst the goals as well.

After the break, the Ely goal keeper had a much better half and was denying us with some excellent saves. However, we persevered and managed to add three more to the total, whilst keeping a clean sheet at the other end of the field. Jodee, Bex and Cat picked up hat tricks, with Helen slotting in two, and the, unlucky for some, total of thirteen was completed with goals from Mel and Charlie. Everyone had such a good game that the man of the match was awarded to the entire team! We look forward to our last league match against Wisbech, with the cup final looming in two weeks time.