Roller Hockey Under 20s Ely Roller Hockey Club’s senior side qualified for the finals of the National League Under 20s cup for the second year in a row.

The six-strong squad - Hattie Ford, Max Dunand, Nico Pembrey, Will Foreman, Vicky Moffat and Emily Barrow – performed well at a round robin competition held at the weekend to book their place in the prestigious cup finals.

Ely’s first game saw them pitted against rivals Soham, who fielded six of the England Under 20s squad.

Ely started brightly but fell behind just after 10 minutes, this was extended to two and then with only seven seconds left of the first half, it was extended to three.

The second half started much the same as the first with Ely having plenty of chances but Soham scored two more before Pembrey got one back. Ely missed a direct and two late goals gave Soham a 7-1 victory.

Ely needed to beat Herne Bay United to have a chance of qualifying. They soon took the lead via Dunand but a deflected long shot put the scores back level.

Ely were playing good hockey and took the lead again when Dunand steered in a Forman shot. However, Herne hit back again, leaving the game level at half-time. In the second half, Ely started to control the game and were rewarded with three goals without reply from Dunand, Pembrey and Barrow. Herne scored two late on to leave the game finely balanced but Ely put the result beyond doubt when Barrow put away an excellent Dunand pass.

Soham then beat Herne Bay and will meet Ely in the final.

Under 17s

Ely took on Cottenham in their first tournament game and it was again a tight afair, with Ely leading 2-1 at half-time thanks to two goals form Ryan Norton.

Cottenham hit back in the second half and went on to win 3-2.

The second game saw Ely play some of their best hockey against Peterborough. Defending well and with good counter attacks against a strong side, Ely won 5-0 thanks to goals from Emily Barrow (2), Heather Dunand, Vicky Moffat and Norton.

King’s Lynn were Ely’s final opposition and it proved a difficult prospect as Lynn were undefeated going into the match, with an impressive 89 goals scored and only 12 conceded in 10 games.

Lynn took the lead but an excellent strike from Norton left the game level at half-time. Within only a few seconds of the second half Ely went behind and then despite chances couldn’t get back into the game, losing 4-1.