British coach is bullish

With the Superleague largely suspended at the weekend for tomorrow night's Olympic qualifier against Switzerland at Sheffield, Peter Woods, the British coach, was bullish about the aims for his squad. To beat Switzerland and therefore progress into the final qualifying tournament in February; to be one of the five teams to go forward from this tournament to the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Britain's first Olympic appearance for 30 years and to play out of the Pool B World Championships into Pool A at April's tournament.

Britain currently head the five-team league with a one-point lead over Switzerland but the Swiss have a game in hand. If they beat Britain and Denmark, they go through. If Britain beat them, all will rest on the Switzerland v Denmark game which is being played on Saturday.

Newcastle Cobras' trip to Ayr Scottish Eagles was the only Superleague game last weekend, with Newcastle winning the match in the first and third periods, the first 3-1 and the third 4-0 with only two lone goals, from Angelo Catenaro and Scott Young for Ayr in the second, making the 7-3 defeat respectable.