Chelmsford opened this game at a ferocious pace, and appeared to have opened the scoring after 12 seconds on their second shot, but the goal was ruled out, as the puck never crossed the line.
Cobras didn't let up, and continued to bombard Jane Austin in the Romford goal with shots. At almost the halfway point of the opening period, the Nighthawks took the first of the evening's checking penalties. About thirty seconds into the "man advantage", Chelmsford's player of the game Caroline Jackson let a shot go from the blue line which appeared to take a number of deflections, but somehow found its way into the net to give the Cobras a 1-0 lead.
This seemed to wake their hosts up, and the remainder of the session saw an equal number of chances at both ends, with Romford making the most of their opportunities. The equalising goal came from Zoe Gilbert, then sister Sophie hit the post with a little over a minute to play, followed by a killer goal, right on the buzzer again from Sophie Gilbert.
Chelmsford's hopes were soon dashed again at the beginning of the second, as Sarah Audsley grabbed Romford's third with thirty seconds played. The remainder of the period saw both teams neutralising each other away from the goal as the chances were limited to a total of eleven shots in goal in the period, with the only goal coming from Zoe Gilbert just before the end of the session.
The third threatened to boil over as both teams took a number of penalties for checking (women's hockey is supposed to be non-checking), but referee Dave Tottman kept control by ensuring that the teams realised he wouldn't tolerate any abuse of the rules.
Chelmsford continued to apply pressure to try and get back into the game, but Jane Austin was able to turn away all fourteen Cobras shots. Meanwhile, Romford managed to complete the scoring by converting one of their four chances, this time from Sarah Audsley.
Cobras player of the game award went to Caroline Jackson who seemed to be in control all over the ice whilst the Romford award went to Sarah Audsley.
Cobras' next game sees them travel to currently unbeaten defending league champions, Cardiff Comets. Face-off is at 19:00.
Scoring:
Romford: Zoe Gilbert 2+1(4), Sarah Audsley 2+0(2), Sophie Gilbert 1+1(2), Keeley Goddard 0+1(0) and Vicki Arnold 0+1(2).
Chelmsford: Caroline Jackson 1+0(0) and Emma Stott 0+0(6).