It was a good victory on the road for the Invicta Dynamos who brought two crucial points back from Cardiff.

Missing Callum Fowler, Grant Baxter and the two Wootton twins, Invicta came out of the traps flying. On just 44 seconds, Eriks Ozollapa and Steve Osman played in Adam McNicoll to roof a shot in the corner of Michael Crisp’s net for one nil.

Giacomo Raffaelli could have equalised for the Cardiff Devils within minutes but Damien King was showing the form of the previous weekend to prevent the Cardiff man from scoring. But on the ten minute mark the Dynamos doubled their lead – Jacob Ranson prodding the puck past Crisp unassisted.

Steve Osman and Eriks Ozollapa combined again on 17 minutes, eventually teeing-up Adam McNicoll at the far post to claim his second goal of the night and a 3-0 lead to the travelling Kent side.

As the first period edged to a close Joe Morris invited Bailey Wootton an invitation to drop the gloves, leading to the Dynamos forward to throw the majority of the punches and also claim the takedown for an easy win.

A scrappy second period would only see 16 shots on goal between both sides – however Cardiff dashed any hopes of an Invicta shutout on 27:43 with Tamas Elias dribbling the puck through the Dynamos defence and rounding Damien King for a great individual goal for 1-3.

Adam McNicoll turned from goal scorer to assist man on 38 minutes, providing Steve Osman the fourth Invicta goal to restore a three goal lead. With Invicta in a comfortable position, red mist from Eriks Ozollapa on 39 minutes for roughing led to the Latvian receiving a 5+ match penalty – and a suspension that’s likely to roll into the play-offs.

The final period started with Invicta successfully defending the five minute powerplay from the Ozollapa incident. However string defending during that powerplay was undone in the 46^th minute when Cardiff, defending a powerplay grabbed a shorthanded goal from Jamie Hayes for 2-4. Arran Strawson hit the Cardiff goal frame a few minutes later from the blue line but neither team added to the scoring.

Adam McNicoll received the man of the match award for his two goals and one assist with the Dynamos now going into the final league game of the season knowing they still have a chance for second spot.

Pictures supplied by Nicola Allen.