The Invicta Dynamos battled hard to pick up two vital points at home to Oxford City Stars on Saturday night.

A below par performance wasn’t quite what fans were expecting at Silver Blades in Gillingham as it was top versus bottom in the league and at times it was hard to tell who was top and who was bottom.

However, in the end the scoreline flattered the Dynamos as they won by four clear goals to maintain top spot in the NIHL South.

Going into the game the Dynamos were without the services of netminder Mark Lee with Aaron Craft given a rare start, whilst Danny Terry, Charlie Phillips and Elliott Dewey were all missing for the home side leaving them light on defencemen.

It was the home side that opened the scoring in the 6th minute as Frankie Harvey broke free, danced down the ice before clipping the puck home with Jack Lee serving two minutes for high sticks.

Less than two minutes later and a flashpoint on the ice saw Billy Phillips erupt when handed a two minute penalty for roughing. Not happy with the decision, Phillips picked up a ten minute misconduct and a further one and that was his night over and done with there and then.

With so few defencemen already and now another down, it handed the visitors an advantage and gave them a sense of belief although the Dynamos went in at the end of the first period still leading 1-0.

The Stars were level in the 26th minute though as Joe Edwards squeezed the puck past Craft and six minutes later the visitors took the lead with the ever willing Evan MacKintosh rewarded for his efforts.

Just over a minute later and it was all square again as Andy Smith made it the second shorthanded goal of the night for the Dynamos as he and Callum Fowler broke free before slotting home.

With 34 seconds left on the clock in the 2nd period the Stars were in front once again as Adam Harris found the target leaving the home fans with much to contemplate in the fifteen minute break.

After some stern words from Head Coach Kevin Parrish, the Dynamos emerged a refreshed and refocused team for the final period and with some changed lines played much better.

It took them seven minutes to level at 3-3 with Michal Oravec making the most of a powerplay and less than a minute later they were back in front when Harvey grabbed his second of the night.

Smith secured his brace just a minute later to make it 5-3 as the Dynamos showed their prowess in front of goal, but were pegged back to 5-4 on 49 minutes when MacKinitosh scored his second of the night.

At 5-4 and with the game still very much in the balance, the Dynamos went through the gears and Smith made it three for night on 53 minutes and three further minutes on and it was 7-4 when Oravec added another.

Callum Fowler made it 8-4 with little over ninety seconds left on the clock with Oxford pegging it back to 8-5 with Nick Oliver getting himself on the scoresheet.

The game was put to bed with just seconds left though as Harvey completed his hat-trick to the delight of the home support.

In the end the scoreboard showed it was 9-5 to the Dynamos, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.

The Dynamos now head to Essex on Sunday evening to face the Chelmsford Chieftains in the top of the table clash between the league’s best two sides.

Win and the title race is still very much alive. Lose and the title could once again be heading to Essex.

Pictures supplied by Dave Trevallion.

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