Roller Hockey Ely’s celebrated ladies team travelled to Girona in Spain over the weekend to compete in the first leg of the European Ladies Club Championships.

Their opponents, Girona, play in the Spanish Ladies League – one of the top ladies league in the world - and are based in Catalonia.

From the outset, it was clear that the extra space on the host’s specialist rink meant defending was more difficult compared to what Ely are used to, with Girona creating regular goal-scoring opportunities.

Ely were given no chance to settle and found themselves 4-0 down inside four minutes and this was extended to six inside 10 minutes.

Ely then started to settle and created some counter attacking opportunities of their own, learning how to restrict the opposition so that only one more goal was scored before half-time.

After the break, Ely started to find space that could be used to their advantage, with Hannah Barrow regularly getting past defenders only to be foiled around the penalty box with a final pass or shot.

Dunand and Emily Barrow both had chances inside the penalty box with a Barrow shot just going over the bar with the goalie beaten.

Girona were still a constant threat and Laura Foreman had a superb half in goal preventing two directs.

During the entire second half, Girona only scored twice, Hannah Barrow had one of the best chances for Ely close to the end but the shot was dealt with by the goalie.

Ely finally got a direct for Girona’s 10th foul with seconds left to play but Barrow never really tested the goalkeeper with a tired shot.

The second leg will be played on January 18.