It was a spirited performance from the Invicta Dynamos as they lost 9-5 to the Swindon Wildcats in the English Challenge Cup on Sunday night.

Going into the game, the Dynamos knew they would have a mountain to climb against their EPL opponents and it proved to be the case.

With Mark Lee, Danny Terry and Grant Baxter not available, the Dynamos took to the ice with an almost full roster in which to choose from and the home fans were delighted to see the likes of Andy Smith, Juraj Huska and Charlie Phillips back playing.

However, the visitors were less than keen to play ball and allow the home side to get off to a flyer and raced into a four goal lead in the opening seven minutes of the game.

Floyd Taylor with two, Aaron Nell and Jan Kostal all found the target as the Dynamos were guilty of leaving netminder Chris Douglas too exposed at the back.

The response came in the ninth minute when skipper Anthony Leone tucked home the rebound from Juraj Huska’s shot to make it 4-1.

Swindon were to add two more goals before the break though with Adam Harding and Tomasz Malansinski all finding the back of the Dynamos net to make it 6-1 after just twenty minutes.

The Wildcats were to add two more goals in the opening eight minutes of the second period with Malansinski and Nell adding their second goals of the night.

At 8-1 up and cruising, the visitors pulled netminder Stevie Lyle with Michael Crisp replacing him between the pipes and that served as inspiration for the home side.

Sensing they were to have more luck against the number two netminder, the Dynamos began to play their own free flowing game and were duly rewarded in the 35th minute as Steve Osman fired past Crisp.

Just over a minute later and Huska had pulled it back to 8-3 as the home support began to get more vocal, liking what they were seeing.

If that wasn’t enough, the Dynamos added a fourth before the break with Andy Smith taking full advantage of a 5 on 3 to make it 8-4 going into the final twenty minutes.

It took until the 51st minute for the next goal to come and when it did it went the way of the Dynamos as they pegged it back to 8-5 with Huska adding his second of the night and for the briefest of moments, the home fans began to believe a comeback could be on.

That little hope was gone though in the 56th minute though as Malansinski capped a great individual performance by completing his hat-trick, putting the game to bed in the process.

9-5 was the way it was to stay until the final buzzer, but in the end the home fans will have gone away happy with what they had seen after what looked like being a rout.

The Dynamos will now turn their attention back to the league when Cardiff NIHL Devils come to Gillingham on Saturday night before a trip to Basingstoke Bison in the English Challenge Cup on Sunday evening.

Pictures supplied by David Trevallion.

To listen to interviews with Kevin Parrish and Brad Gutridge from after the game, click here: