The Invicta Dynamos kept their title ambitions alive with a comfortable win over rivals Streatham Redskins on Sunday evening.

Going into the game, it was second versus third in the NIHL South and both sides were still eyeing chasing Chelmsford Chieftains for top spot in the league, but by the end of the evening it was clear there will be only one challenger.

The Dynamos took to the ice with two away wins under their belts from the weekend before, but were without the services of Mark Lee, Grant Baxter and Frankie Harvey.

With an almost capacity crowd packed into the Gillingham rink, the puck dropped a little late as fans made their way to their seats and those that were still getting settled may have missed the first goal as the Dynamos only took 62 seconds to open the scoring.

The combination of Callum Fowler and Juraj Huska worked well to set up the club’s leading scorer, Andy Smith, who made no mistake from close range.

With Fowler and Arran Strawson off the ice for penalties, Streatham made full use of the 5 on 3 powerplay and pulled themselves level in the 8th minute with Sean Scarbrough slotting past Mark McGill in the Dynamos net.

Just over four minutes later and the visitors thought they had taken the lead, only for it to be washed out. Former Dynamo Jakub Klima thought he had scored only for the officials to rule it was no goal with McGill’s goal having been moved in the process.

Streatham weren’t to be denied though and took the lead legitimately in the 15th minute with Robbie Brown’s long range effort taking a deflection leaving McGill stranded.

With Adam Mahoney off the ice for tripping, the Dynamos took full advantage of the powerplay themselves and levelled just before the break with Fowler turning the puck home after good work from Smith and Michal Oravec.

Going into the second period all square at 2-2, the Dynamos knew they had a game on their hands, but buoyed by a vocal crowd that included former BDO World darts champion Andy Fordham, they battled hard and went through the gears.

It took until the 29th minute for the Dynamos to take the lead, but when they did it started a devastating spell of ice hockey.

Oravec was to put the Dynamos in front and five minutes later Anthony Leone was in on the action. Just eight seconds after the restart and it was 5-2 with Huska slamming the puck home.

Stunned by the spell from the Dynamos, the visitors tried to shut up shop and held firm for the remainder of the second period.

However, the third period once again belonged to the home side as they added to their tally. Oravec made it 6-2 in the 47th minute and the evening was capped with less than two minutes to go when fans were treated to the goal of the night.

The puck came back to Strawson on the halfway line and without hesitation, he wound up, and fired the puck home through a crowd of players.

So the night was to end 7-2 to the Dynamos who cemented second spot in the league and keep pace with Chelmsford and next weekend they turn their attention to the NIHL Southern Cup semi-final clash with Wightlink Raiders.

The first leg will be played on the Isle of Wight on Saturday night before returning to Gillingham on Sunday evening for what should be an entertaining second leg.

To listen to our exclusive interviews with Kevin Parrish and Mark McGill from after the game, click here: