Cobras winning streak halted by Romford
The Cobras welcomed Romford to Chelmsford for their first game of the New Year. Both teams were confident as Romford have only been beaten once this season and the Cobras were on a winning streak.
The game started brightly with both teams sharing possession and Romford's pressure produced the first shot on net which was ably turned away by Sasha Martin making her debut for the Cobras. At 7.40 into the game the Nighthawks Sophie Gilbert broke through the Cobras defence to open the scoring, assisted by Katy Allen and Zoë Gilbert. Three minutes later, Gilbert took a seat in the bin for tripping, Cobras however, failed to convert on the power play. The period ended with Romford out-shooting Chelmsford 7-5.
In the second period, Romford stepped up a gear and piled the pressure on Chelmsford. Things got a little heated when Cobras Emma Stott and Nighthawks Zoë Gilbert were both sent to the bin for roughing. The Nighthawks continued to put pressure on and were rewarded with two quick goals, the first at 28.17 scored by Katy Allen assisted by Gilbert and the second forty seconds later, this time by Lana Sterling-Ait assisted by Tracy Paul. This period ended with the Nighthawks out-shooting the Cobras 19-4.
With nothing to lose, the Cobras started the third period hoping to repeat the share of the possession they had in the first. This was halted when they found themselves a player down as Karen Law was penalised for interference. Chelmsford successfully killed the penalty off but the remaining five minutes of the game saw Romford taking three more penalties leaving them for some time with only three players. Unfortunately the Cobras failed to make the most of the advantage and the game ended 0-3 to Romford with Chelmsford being outshot by a total of 34-13.
Player of the game for Chelmsford went to Sasha Martin and for Romford the award went to Lana Sterling-Ait.
Cobras next home game is on Saturday 8th February against Oxford University at 5.15pm