THE Fernwood Bendigo Vipers claimed a point against league heavyweight Sandringham on Saturday to keep themselves within reach of a ground-breaking finals berth.
The Vipers managed a 0-0 draw away against the third placed Sandringham, a result that contrasts markedly with the 3-0 defeat inflicted on them in round four.
"I was really delighted with the result," coach Peter Richardson said.
"laying them at their home ground, we went down with the view of not losing the game, and an away draw against a top three side is always a good result.
“But what was even better was the way we played, we probably gave them no more than two real chances and in the last 15 minutes we ran over the top of them and did everything but win the game."
In a blow to the Vipers’ finals aspirations, fellow contender Heidelberg thumped Gippsland 11-1 to drastically improve its goal difference to 14.
Heidelberg sits four points outside the top five in sixth position, one point and a significant goal difference ahead of the seventh-placed Vipers.
Richardson hopes the promising result will buoy his side’s spirit as it heads into a vital fortnight of Football Federation Victoria Women’s Premier League competition.
By the completion of round 16, the Vipers will have a strong indication as to whether the season will mark their inaugural finals appearance or simply a return to competitiveness after the challenges of 2007.
"I’m thinking at the moment if we can keep getting draws against the sides above us and we win the games against the sides below us, that’s really the primary aim for me for a number of reasons," Richardson said.
"The next two weeks we’re going to be missing four of our first team starting players - we’ve got two players in the state squad going to the nationals and two players who are still injured.
"We’ve got Heidelberg away next weekend with our side clearly below full strength and then the following week we play Ashburton which is second on the ladder.
"The aim over this next couple of weeks is to see if we can get something out of those two games, if we can get a draw in each of those two games as a minimum we’ll be in a very good position.
"After those two weeks we get two and maybe even all four of those girls back and for the last three or four games of the season - which are mostly against sides below us - we’ll have a full-strength side."