February 27th 1999, Womens Division One - South
Both teams entered this game slightly short on numbers, through work commitments, and injuries, and the first period seemed to lack some of the intensity of recent games.
The play flowed from end to end, but whilst both teams had quite a lot of pressure they failed to turn this into shots on goal, and it was almost halfway through the period before Cobras' rookie netminder Carly Davis was forced to make a save. The period continued in a stop start vein, with a couple of lengthy stoppages for injuries - nothing too serious fortunately.
About eleven minutes into the period, Invicta's Rhonda Root broke in on the Chelmsford goal, only for Carly Davis, to grab the puck out of the air and keep the game scoreless. This was followed almost immediately by Katy Allen breaking in on the Invicta net, being hooked from behind by Robyn Mapp, and both players receiving penalties for the ensuing argument.
Just as it seemed the period would end scoreless, Chelmsford camped out in the Invicta zone for the final minute, and eventually Emma Stott was able to open the scoring, assisted by Katy Allen and Jen Stedman.
The second period had only just got underway, when Cobras had their second, a shot from the blue line from Katy Allen, which flew into the top of the net rocking the Dynamics back on their heels. Shortly after this Invicta took a tripping penalty, and having successfully killed of the man advantage, a scramble in front of their net lead to Cobras' third, from Rachel Kearn, unassisted.
Just as the Dynamics heads were dropping, they opened their account through Rhonda Root, assisted by Alissa Dennis and Robyn Mapp, and nearly had a second when a panic in the Cobras zone was saved by an early referee's whistle - even though Invicta shot the puck wide of the open net.
Fortunately for Chelmsford, they regained control of the game, when Invicta's Sarah Vik misplayed the puck directly to Rachel Kearn, for her second, and the Cobras' fourth with three minutes left in the period.
The third period was a story of the goals which might have been, Jen Stedman hitting the post for Chelmsford, just before Rachel Kearn nabbed her hat-trick goal, and the Cobras nearly added a sixth when Amanda Broderick won a face off and almost put the puck in her own net.
Cobras' player of the game was shared between Rachel Kearn and Carly Davis, with the Invicta award being given to Karen Thompson.
Next Cobras home game is Saturday 24th April, at Riverside, against Oxford University Blues, the game starts at 5:15pm, but they have two away fixtures next month which will be reported here.
Scoring:
Chelmsford: Rachel Kearn 3+0(0), Katy Allen 1+2(2), Emma Stott 1+0(0), Jen Stedman 0+1(0), Rachael Mockler 0+0(2).
Invicta: Rhonda Root 1+0(0), Alissa Dennis 0+1(0), Robyn Mapp 0+1(2), Tracy Gough 0+0(2).