YOUTH FOOTBALL ROUND-UP Under-Nine Division E Ely Crusaders A 10 Soham United 2 CRUSADERS took the lead after a couple of minutes when Luke Brown headed in a Jordan Rowsel corner. After a Soham own-goal and two stunning strikes from Liam Walker, Ely were

YOUTH FOOTBALL ROUND-UP

Under-Nine Division E

Ely Crusaders A 10 Soham United 2

CRUSADERS took the lead after a couple of minutes when Luke Brown headed in a Jordan Rowsel corner.

After a Soham own-goal and two stunning strikes from Liam Walker, Ely were soon 4-0 up.

Then, man of the match Ryan Dean let fly from the edge of the box to make it five. Soham were then rewarded when Ely gave away an own goal but Oliver Bailey replied with two of the best goals seen all season - his second almost ripping through the net. Soham then scored their second, from a well struck free-kick to make it 7-2.

Another goal from Ryan Dean and a second from leading scorer Luke Brown, to take his goal tally to 39, made it 9-2. Ryan Dean then completed his hat-trick and scored Crusaders' 100th goal of the season as he volleyed it in off the outside of his right foot.

Crusaders: Liam Walker, Jordan Rowsel (captain), Aiden Merry, Fraser Crossman, Jonathan Humphry, Ryan Dean, Oliver Bailey, Luke Brown, Tejay O'Keeffe.

Under-15 Division A

St Ives Rangers B 1 Littleport Town 1

A BARREN playing surface, an extremely bouncy ball and a significant number of overhanging tree branches made this match an interesting spectacle.

Midway through the half Dan Bell found the net with an excellent lob, but an offside flag cut short his celebrations.

After the interval, the two teams made more of an effort to play the ball on the ground, rather than resorting regularly to the aerial route.

Poor first touches, however, continued to plague the match until 20 minutes into the second half when a good move down the right resulted in a Littleport forward being scythed down in the area. Sean Monigatti's penalty was superbly pushed onto the post by the home keeper, but the rebound fell straight to Monigatti, who hammered the ball into the net.

St Ives responded with a series of attacks and 10 minutes from the end they equalised with a close-range shot. Soon after they had the ball in the net again - but only after the Littleport keeper had been rugby-tackled by a home forward.

Both teams settled for a draw.

Littleport: Rob Wilson, Chris Brown, Tom Evans, Adam Reckless, Matt Fuller, Nick Seaman, Sam Males, Lee Fuller, James Elliott, Dan Bell, Sean Monigatti, Ryan Middleton, Adam Ellertson.

Under-15 Division D

Waterbeach 0 Ely City C 8

ELY took one of their chances through captain Adam Richards on 24 minutes with Ed Dickenson adding a second goal a few minutes later after some well-worked passing through midfield.

Ely's third came from an own goal straight from a corner and goal of the match followed quickly from right winger Oliver Young scoring with a fierce shot from distance.

In the second half the home side were able to mount a few attacks on the visitors' goal aided by the wind.

Chris Fleming, Ely's man of the match, scored on 12 minutes; Adam Richards got his second on 27 minutes with a good individual goal; and, Ed Dickenson deservedly completed his hat-trick with two goals inside a minute.

Ely: Tom McInally, Daniel Butcher, Shaun Eldridge, Tom Porter, David Balcombe, Oliver Young, Alex Philips, Chris Fleming, Edmund Dickinson, Adam Richards (Captain), Oliver Jackson, Kiefer Taylor, Adam Keeble, Nick Gough.

Under-14 Division C

Sutton Stirling 1

Willingham Wolves 3

WILLINGHAM played with the wind first half and created a lot of chances but only managed to score once, with some fine saves by Sutton keeper Robbie Friar.

Sutton came out second half and had a lot of the play and managed to score through Jay Martin. Conner Rogerson missed a good chane to put Sutton in front. The home team pushed forward and got caught on the break twice near the end of time to finish the match 3-1 down.

Sutton's man of the match was Sam Ambrose.

Sutton: Robbie Friar, Josh Baker, Sam Ambrose, Liam South, Jordan Keeble, Jody Holden, Chris Green, Philip Hampshire, Cathal Brown, Jay Martin, Conner Rogerson, Andy Horsfall.

Under-13 Division D

Soham Town 0 Ely Crusaders B 3

THIS was Ely's best performance all season. The first half didn't see any goals but both sides battled well. Stand-in goalkeeper and man of the match Kyle Turner had to make some great saves for Ely.

Liam Bishop broke the deadlock in the second half for Ely and Alex Bettison got the second with a penalty after being brought down.

Ely's third came from some great passing, which set up Matt Thorpe to round things off.

Crusaders: Kyle Turner, Samual Fearon-Harrison, Shaun Marston, Adam Green, Tom Sharp, Sam Day, Patrick Cornwell, Liam Bishop, Liam Ruminski, Matt Thorpe, Alex Bettison, Rowan Haslam.

Under-10 Division E

Ely Crusaders A 2 Chatteris Town 0

A CLOSE game from two evenly-matched teams.

Ely attacked hard from the first whistle but were matched by a good Chatteris side who pressured the Ely defence making them work hard.

Ely came out a different side in the second half.

Ely's first came from Jack Rudkin, who neatly headed a Harry Beeton corner into goal. Ely continued to push forward but were again matched by Chatteris who defended well. Ely's second came from Thomas Walker who calmly slotted the ball home when it fell at his feet from a goalmouth scramble.

Crusaders: Oscar Haines, Ryan Marston, Tom Matcham, Harry Beeton, Tyler Thurston, Scott Callaghan, Thomas Walker, Jack Rudkin.

Under-Nine Division E

Mildenhall 2

Soham Town Colts Black 0

EARLY in the game Soham's Jordan Turpin produced some fine skills on the wing and had a shot hit the post and Kieran Fuller's long range effort bounced off the bar.

Mildenhall weren't afraid to shoot from all parts of the pitch and a fine save by Matthew Fretwell kept it goalless.

Mildenhall kept the pressure on and it finally paid off when errors at the back by Soham lead to two quick goals.

Soham man of match was Kyle Allgood.

Colts: Kyle Allgood, Matthew Fretwell, Shannon Froggatt, Kieran Fuller, Matthew Hewitt, Samuel Hewitt, Travis Isaacson, Harry Parfitt, Jordan Turpin.

Division F

Mepal Sports 4 Chatteris 1

MEPAL continued their fine form with a comfortable victory over Chatteris.

The visitors opened the scoring with a fine effort in the first period but Hugh Lawrence levelled for Mepal.

Tommy Corlito put Mepal ahead in the second period.

Joshua Murfitt and Roland Dickinson went close for Mepal and a stunning headed effort from Tommy Rayner struck the crossbar. Rayner later made amends when he put away Mepal's third.

Adam Hudson capped off a fine game putting away Mepal's fourth with a superb strike.

Mepal: Tommy Corlito, Roly Dickinson, Daniel Freeman, Becky Halls, Adam Hudson, Hugh Lawrence, Joshua Murfitt, Tommy Rayner, Charlie Scott.

Streham Sporting A 6

Stretham Sporting B 4

THIS local match was a close game from start to finish with Stretham's B team playing their finest game this season.

The first session was very competitive and at the end of the second session the score was 4-4. The B team forwards and midfielders showed determination and with their excellent passing produced goals from Ellie Bovingdon, player of the match Daniel Stead and two for Ryan Eaton.

The final session was very tense, but the A team stepped up the pace to score two goals in the closing minutes.

Stretham B: Ellie Bovingdon, Lance Brown, Bryton Carrington, Gabriel Carrington, Dean Crookell, Ryan Eaton, Ben Nichols, Daniel Stead.

Under-Eight Division D

Ely Crusaders 5 Isleham United 0

ELY pushed forward from the whistle but with Samuel Quarrier and Christopher Lewis going close the first quarter finished goalless.

Into the second quarter, Max Wright scrambled Ely into the lead and with Ely pressing, Wright scored from outside the box to make it 2-0.

The third quarter started with Kyle Thurston scoring after great commitment and he then added another after a good solo run.

With Isleham going close, Wright notched his hat-trick after a good team move involving Finley Logan and Edward Kratz.