Saturday, September 15, 2007: Newcastle Mobilx Vipers 2-0 Edinburgh Capitals
Sunday, September 16, 2007: Manchester Phoenix 5-2 Newcastle Mobilx Vipers

VIPERS spent 24 hours at the top of the Elite League following their third successive win on Saturday night, but came crashing back down to earth on Sunday with a 5-2 defeat in Manchester, which saw Coventry leapfrog them into the top spot.

The trip to Manchester found the home side in fine form, having beaten Belfast the previous night and it was the Phoenix whose flame was the first to burn the Vipers this year.

Young Viper Dean Holland was the man to open the scoring, with his first Elite League goal of the season, at 6.21, but veteran Tony Hand shot home at 7.19 to level the scores.

Vipers continued to look lively and regained the lead at 14.32 with a powerplay strike by ex Phoenix star Derek Campbell.

But Phoenix turned the game in their favour with a great second period showing. Sean Starke levelled at 23.31 and then Joe Tallari took centre stage by netting at 27.05 and again at 36.41 to see the home side 4-2 ahead at the second break.

At 42.26 the game was over as a contest when, on the power play, Tallari completed a straight hat-trick and, in the process, scored the 100th goal in the EIHL regular season.

Vipers frustrations grew and at 57.24 Andre Payette was ejected on a 5+game for fighting as he tangled with Jeff MacMillan.

The 5-2 defeat, Vipers first this season, leaves them in second place in the Elite League.

Vipers went into Saturday night's home match with Edinburgh Capitals still missing Petr Kratky, who is likely to be out for up to a month with a broken wrist.

However, they came away with a 2-0 win to take them to the top of the Elite League.

A tougher Capitals side than was seen last year visited the Metro Radio Arena, backed up by a net minder who could prove the find of the season, in rookie Jean-Francois Perras.

Both Perras and Vipers' Ryan MacDonald proved key to keeping the score down, the home goalie saving from Iain Bowie's power play strike and his opposite number stopping a Payette snap shot early on.

The opener followed a string of penalties and came with the side playing four-on-four. Pavel Gomenyuk's slapshot from the point went high glove side on Perras at 18.32.

A goalless second period almost saw the visitors take the lead when Colin Hemingway was hauled down clean through. Scottish referee Moray Hanson called a penalty shot, but Hemingway's close range effort hit the post.

The hard-working Vipers carried on plugging away for a second, but despite a few close calls, Perras kept them at bay until the very last second.

Edinburgh had called a time out with 70 seconds left and pulled Perras from the play.

A Shaun Johnson effort was deflected wide, but when Ben Storey set David Longstaff away down the right, the captain proved selfless and played the puck across to Jeff Hutchins who finished with ease at 59.59 to make it 2-0.