Vipers made it 3 wins out of 3 on Sunday, as they took on Telford at home. Telford themselves were unbeaten until their trip to the NIC. Vipers took the lead in the first period, Michelle Peat slotting home the opening, making the most of Rachel Brown's hard work as she stormed forward from her usual D position!! Unfortunately, Telford then started to dominated the game, and after tying the game at the end of the first, went 3-1 up early in the second. Vipers were not playing well! Sloppy passing, too many penalties, heads down, and some lack of skating (some players injured, and others...just lazy) all contributed to Vipers lack of performance. However, nearing the end of the second period, something happened, that made the girls skate. It wasn't my helpful comments thats for sure - I'm taking 'how to be constructive' lessons - in fact, I have no idea what is was, but thankfully it happened! One goal for the Vipers (from a Telford defensive error), led to 2 goals in 2 shifts, as Julia Coughill shifted the momentum and tied the game at 3-3 at the end of the second.

The main problem with me writing this match report, is that I can't really remember what happend from here on in (I think I was a little sicker than I thought)! I know we won, and we won by a single goal (it was either 4-3 or 5-4!). I know it wasn't pretty at times, and that Ali Clarke made some crucial saves at the end of the game, when we were trying to run down the clock, and hang on to our victory. Glossy's check on the boards will always be remembered I'm sure by the poor, unsuspecting Telford player, as Glossy forgot that girls don't play checking hockey! I also know that I scored a short-handed goal - truth be known, I had forgotten we were short-handed, and otherwise would probably not have bothered going forward!

Anyway, in summary, we played poorly at times, but still managed to put away our chances, defended well when the pressure mounted, and 'gritted' it out for a win! Not pretty, but a wins a win. Ali Clarke picked up a deserved MOM award. A team that can win when they don't play well, is actually a good sign. We return to Telford in 2 weeks, and determined to show them how we can really play hockey, and get the same result.