The Invicta Dynamos suffered a frustrating defeat on Sunday evening in front of a big travelling fan base.

The Mos welcomed back forward Joe Allen for their first ever trip to the Raiders new home in Romford but had to make do without the services of Callum Best which left Kevin Parrish with 16 skaters to choose from. For the Raiders, ex-Dynamo Mason Webster was missing through a fractured fibula but his younger brother Brandon stepped-up.

The first period was a busy affair, perhaps for referee Matthews who made a number of calls although constancy was always in question. Juraj Huska got the hosts off to a great start – a blistering drive was saved by netminder Long but the rebound fell nicely to the sniper who made no mistake at the second attempt for 1-0 on 29 seconds. The lead was doubled on 12:05 after a series of penalties against both teams for minor offences, this time though it was a penalty shot that doubled the lead with Filip Sedivy making no mistake under pressure. Barely a minute after the goal the Mos received a boost when Huska took dislike to a slashing penalty awarded against him by showing misconduct in the penalty box which gave him an additional ten minutes to serve. Unfortunately the Mos failed to take any advantage and were soon 3-0 down with Blahoslav Novak feeding off a pass from Sylvester to add to the Mos woes on  16:48.

The second period continued the theme of both sides taking penalties but it was yet again the Raiders who came out the blocks flying to make it 4-0 in the 21st minute – Novak converting past Long. Ben Clements was busier this period, saving in particular from Grant Bartlett and Edmund Piacka whilst his most impressive at the time was a save to deny a Susters first time shot after Matt Foord led a break. Just past the halfway stage of the game the Raiders struck goal 5 – JJ Pitchley from Matt Turner and John Connolly. A delay of game call against Ben Clements gave the Mos a powerplay on 33:30 with the Mos taking full advantage – Martins Susters shooting beyond the helpless netminder from an acute angle, assisted by Grant Bartlett and Edmund Piacka. Barely a minute later though the Raiders restored their 5 goal lead for 6-1 on 34:39 – Jake Sylvester putting his name on the scoreboard. The period ended with affairs getting heated with the prospect of matters carrying into the final period.

The last period had Invicta see a Susters goal wiped out when his shot was deemed not to have crossed the line. However the period was only 6 minutes old before a goal occurred, again it fell the way to the hosts who scored on a powerplay after Grant Bartlett was penalised for a high stick – Blahoslav Novak striking his hat-trick on 46:14 assisted by John Connolly third assist of the game and a further assist to Filip Sedivy. At that point Kevin Parrish decided to pull netminder Long and throw-in young netminder Thomas Adams for his debut. It wasn’t long before Adams was picking the puck out of the net though with Juraj Huska making it 8-1 on 46:54. Adams did however go on to make 8 saves during his brief spell. A breakaway led by Piacka and Susters almost gave Colvin a sniff at goal with Invicta looking to crawl back another goal. The Piacka and Susters combination did however mange to get a goal back on 59:13 with Piacka striking past Clements for a final score on 8-2 to the Raiders.

 

Raiders: John Connolly 0+3, Matt Turner 0+2, Dan Scott 0+1, JJ Pitchley 1+0, Jake Sylvester 1+1, Aaron Connolly 0+2, Filip Sedivy 1+2, Juraj Huska 2+0, Blahoslav Novak 3+0

 

Invicta Dynamos: Grant Bartlett 0+1, Edmund Piacka 1+1, Martin Susters 1+1

 

Ben Clements: 41 shots (2 goals) 95.12%

 

Adam Long: 35 shots (7 goals) 80.00%; Thomas Adams: 9 shots (1 goal) 88.89%