Vipers travelled to Coventry to play their last game prior to Christmas. Despite only missing a couple of players, Vipers seemed to have pre-Christmas lethargy and were unable to play the game that they were capable of. It was a game, that the league table suggested Vipers should win! I think the pressure told...

Recently Coventry ice-rink has not seen the best of the Vipers. Vipers set off sluggishly and were being outplayed in the first period. Vipers still seemed to have some good chances to score, but were unable to capitalise and saw Coventry take the lead. Julia Coughill quickly pulled it back to tie the game, but still Vipers seemed to always be second to the puck. We were being outskated by a team determined to pull out a shock result.

The second period started the way the first had ended. Coventry saw more of the puck and goalie Alison Clark had to be on good form to stop them from going to far in front.

Vipers, who found themselves 3-1 down with 8 minutes left on the clock, changed their lines to try and get more out of their players. Thankfully, the plan worked. With about 5 minutes left, Bernadette Bailey scored to make the score 3-2 and gave Vipers a chance of rescuing the game. The next shift, Vipers won the face-off, and a good pass from Laura Quarton up the boards to Anna Cooper allowed her to take the puck in deep. Julia Coughill tied up the defence to allow Anna to easily slot the puck home with about 3 minutes left to play.

Coventry called a time-out to stop the rot, and although Anna had a chance to win the game in the last minute, that she shot wide, there were to be no last-minute goals in this game. All in all, not exactly a great game of hockey. However, some spirit was showed in the last few minutes of the game, in order to salvage some respect and a point. A 'wake-up' call was given in Coventry, and hopefully, Vipers will remember this when they play their first game in the new year away at Blackburn. Again, thanks to all the supporters - I appologise for failing to win it and to give you all a better Christmas present!