Ely & Chesterton United eyeing up more European matches after slender WSE Female Champions League defeat to Uttigen
After their first foray into Europe ended in a slender defeat, Ely & Chesterton United’s senior female side are eager to experience more adventures on the continent.
Up against Swiss side Uttigen in the WSE Female Champions League qualifiers, Ely & Chesterton were beaten 5-4 on aggregate.
It meant that while they missed out on a place in the group stages of the competition, they still have a two-legged World Skate European Cup encounter against Italian side Valdagno to prepare for in February next year.
And head coach Roger Courtenay-Barrow is hoping that this is just the start of the team’s journeys into Europe.
He said: “The girls have shown that they can compete at a European level and that’s a big thing considering how young the average age of the group is.
“In rink hockey, players don’t tend to peak until between 20 and 25 years old. The average age of our group is probably 18, so if they stay motivated and continue to progress then who knows how far they can go.
“They’ve had a taste of what international rink hockey is like at club level and they really enjoyed it.
“A lot of them have played for England at youth level in big tournaments, but club hockey has a different feel to it.
“What these girls have done is put the club on the map in European rink hockey and people will now recognise our name. Hopefully this is the start of a lot more European games for the club.”
Courtenay-Barrow also felt that his team were unfortunate to bow out against Uttigen.
Having lost the first leg at home 2-1, they conceded two early goals in the return meeting and while they battled back to draw 3-3, it was not quite enough to win through.
Courtenay-Barrow added: “We were disappointed in a way because we felt we were the better side, but like in other sports, the better team doesn’t always win.
“Looking back at the first leg, if we could play it again I’d have got the team to push more and not be as conservative.
“Their goals in the second leg came so much against the run of play and once they’d scored those, they sat so deep and then it became difficult.
“It was that little bit of experience that they have that has helped them edge it and that’s a learning curve for us, but there’s no doubt we played really well in both games and we can definitely be competitive.”
In preparation for their double header against north-eastern Italian outfit Valdagno, Ely & Chesterton have plenty of fixtures lined up in the Regional East of England Division Two, the National Female Premier League and a regional Under-20s competition.
