Wilson still aiming for high finish

Wilson still aiming for high finish

Mobilx Vipers coach Rob Wilson was frustrated by Sunday's loss to the Hull Stingrays, but maintained his team are pushing to finish as high as possible in the Elite League standings ahead of the playoffs.

The Vipers went into Sunday's game buoyed by a 4-1 home win over Cardiff, while the Stingrays were on the wrong end of a 9-1 scoreline in Nottingham.

Five minutes from time Newcastle and Hull were tied at 3-3, on goals from Nathan Salem (his first Elite goal), Brent Hughes (first as a Viper) and Jerramie Domish (fifth of the season, all away from home).

However a tripping penalty on Matic Kralj led to a Hull powerplay goal before an empty net strike four seconds from time rounded off the scoring.

"It was disappointing tonight, particularly to lose it so late," said Wilson.

"We did a good job on Saturday closing out the game, and we should have done the same tonight when we were up 3-2.

"Then in the third we couldn't kill off the last penalty, and were left chasing the game which lead to the empty net.

"It was even more disappointing in terms of getting into a run ahead of post season.

"Saturday's win put us back in the race for fifth spot.  Now we lost, Edinburgh and Sheffield have won and the bottom half of the table is getting realy congested.

"I want us to finish as high up as possible.  We have beaten everyone else in the League this season, so any match-up shouldn't faze us.  At the same time, though, we have to be playing with confidence and getting consistent results.

"We are playing well at the moment, but there's still a little lack of confidence there so we aren't getting the results our play deserves.  That's how we are losing games late on as we did tonight and in Cardiff last week."

Wilson will now prepare his team for a home and away series with Edinburgh Capitals who are three points clear of the Vipers in fifth place.

Injury absentees David Longstaff and Mark Gouett could make a return to action at the weekend, and will be assessed in training this week.

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  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
1 Belfast Giants 39 31 8 3 159 80 65
2 Nottingham Panthers 39 29 10 2 176 85 60
3 Sheffield Steelers 33 29 4 0 128 73 58
4 Coventry Blaze 39 24 15 1 147 112 49
5 Cardiff Devils 37 20 17 9 119 103 49
6 Braehead Clan 38 21 17 2 141 123 44
7 Hull Stingrays 40 11 29 4 107 162 26
8 Edinburgh Capitals 38 11 27 3 89 170 25
9 Fife Flyers 37 7 30 5 76 166 19
10 Dundee Stars 38 6 32 5 87 155 17
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5-4
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3-2
29th January 2012 17:30
4-2
29th January 2012 17:30
5-4
29th January 2012 17:30
1-5
28th January 2012 19:00
5-2
28th January 2012 18:30
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
1 Guildford Flames 36 24 12 3 163 105 51
2 Slough Jets 35 23 12 1 160 112 47
3 Manchester Phoenix 37 22 15 3 136 119 47
4 Sheffield Steeldogs 37 21 16 4 116 101 46
5 Milton Keynes Lightning 35 22 13 1 113 92 45
6 Basingstoke Bison 36 20 16 2 130 119 42
7 Swindon Wildcats 37 15 22 5 119 123 35
8 Bracknell Bees 36 12 24 8 106 142 32
9 Peterborough Phantoms 36 13 23 2 115 155 28
10 Telford Tigers 37 9 28 2 100 190 20
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
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