January 9th 1999, Women's League Division One - South
Chelmsford gained revenge for their defeat last weekend in Oxford, with a win in a nail biting encounter that had everyone in the rink on the edge of their seats until the final buzzer, and with the win they are now in second place in the league table.
The game started with Chelmsford looking a lot more positive, and it was against the run of play when Oenone Dodwell gathered her own rebound to give the Zodiacs the lead in the sixth minute. Cobras continued to pressurise the Oxford net, but ended the period one goal behind.
The second period saw a determined Cobras side applying even more pressure, and this paid off a little over three minutes into the period when Rachel Kearn was able to put away a pass from Katy Allen to tie the scores. The shots kept raining in on the Oxford net, especially during two minutes of a two player power-play advantage to Chelmsford, but still the scores were level until Katy Allen and Emma Stott were able to combine to give the Cobras the lead three minutes from the end of the period, and despite Oxford hitting more penalty trouble that is how the period finished.
Into the third, and at least early on, both teams seemed more keen to concentrate on defence, and the game appeared to be drawing to an uneventful end until with just under four minutes to play Oxford thought they had scored, but this was ruled out by the referee as the puck had not crossed the line.
Not to be denied, the Zodiacs pulled their goalie to have an extra attacker, leaving an unguarded net. Cobras gained possession almost immediately, but were unable to get a shot on target, and when Oxford got control they began to camp out in the Chelmsford zone. A couple of times Cobras got the puck, and shot, but the puck went wide, and the play was returned to the Cobras zone for icing.
About 90 seconds after removing the goalie, the Oxford pressure paid off, when Suzie Clark was able to shoot the puck through a crowd of players to again tie the scores, and delight the Oxford bench. However, thirty seconds after the goal Oxford's Louise Thompson was penalised for tripping, and the Cobras set about trying to regain the lead they'd worked so hard for. With only thirty seconds left to play 'player of the game' Jen Stedman fed Katy Allen and Chelmsford had the lead again. Almost immediately after the restart Oxford again removed their goalie, but this time to no avail, and Chelmsford held on for the narrowest of victories. Zodiacs player of the game was Mima Boardman.
Next Cobras game is Saturday 30th January, at Riverside, against Romford Nighthawks, the game starts at 5:15pm. Admission is free - all spectators are welcome.
Scoring:
Chelmsford: Katy Allen 2+1(0), Rachel Kearn 1+0(0), Emma Stott 0+1(0), Jen Stedman 0+1(4), Rachael Mockler 0+0(4)
Oxford City: Oenone Dodwell 1+0(0), Suzie Clark 1+0(0), Debra Capon 0+0(2), Tanya McStravick 0+0(2), Jae Rance 0+0(2), Poly Smart 0+0(2), Nancy Owens 0+0(2), Louise Thompson 0+0(4), Becky Hughes 0+0(4)