It was a night to forget for the Invicta Dynamos on Sunday as they were thrashed 9-0 by title rivals Chelmsford Chieftains.

Going into the game, the Kent side knew full well that they needed a repeat performance of the last time the two teams met in Gillingham, but it turned into a horror show as the home support had to endure sixty minutes of torture.

With the league title basically resting on this game, the Essex side came to Kent having had a wobble the weekend before, losing twice to the Streatham Redskins.

The Dynamos welcomed back Mark Lee, Andy Smith, Arran Strawson and Grant Baxter with the quartet having missed the trip to Cardiff the night before with the English side 6-2 victors.

As the puck dropped in front of a near on capacity crowd, the atmosphere was electric with both sets of fans hoping for a classic. What they witnessed will live long in the memory of the Chieftains and will hopefully soon be forgotten by Dynamos fans.

It was a relatively even start with neither side able to break the deadlock in the opening ten minutes and had it not been for the bar Elliott Dewey would have opened the scoring for the home side.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 12th minute with Bartlett racing clear of the Dynamos defence and firing past Lee.

In what turned out to be a fairly even opening twenty minutes, the Dynamos once again found the frame of the goal with Frankie Harvey denied by the upright and the two teams went in at the first break with the Essex side leading 1-0.

Hoping for goals from the home side, the Dynamos fans had to endure a tough second period with Chelmsford going through the gears.

Martin Piecha and Matt Turner extended the lead to 3-0 by the 29th minute with the Dynamos calling a time out after the third goal as they attempted to arrest the slide, but Chelmsford added a fourth early in the 33rd minute as Ross Brears backhanded the puck home.

That led to Lee being replaced by Mark McGill in the Dynamos goal and within ninety seconds he too had been beaten with Chelmsford scoring a shorthanded goal from Darren Brown.

At 5-0 going into the final period, home fans were fearing the worst and it got that way just over a minute in with Brown making full use of a powerplay.

Goal number seven came less than two minutes later as Bartlett was allowed to break away and score.

A lull in the game saw the Dynamos tighten up for a spell, but were once again undone in the 54th minute as a 3 on 1 counter saw Piecha add his second for Chelmsford.

James Ayling put the icing on the cake in the 57th minute as he powered the puck home leaving the Chelmsford fans chanting for a tenth, with the Dynamos fans humorously singing for their first.

It was to be no laughing matter and it came as a huge relief when the final buzzer finally sounded, putting the Dynamos fans well and truly out of their misery.

The defeat leaves the Dynamos two points behind Chelmsford who have three games in hand and the league title seems to be gone.

Thankfully the Streatham Redskins lost to the London Raiders so second spot in the league seems to be safe for a Dynamos side that must travel to Oxford City Stars on Saturday night and then on to Milton Keynes Thunder on Sunday evening.

An angry and frustrated Kevin Parrish wasn’t prepared to comment after the game and will be left to reflect on what could have been for the Dynamos.