It was a narrow defeat on the road for the Invicta Dynamos on Sunday evening despite a spirited display.

The Mos were short on numbers with Arran Strawson, Scott Bailey and Callum Fowler joining Josh Condren and Ross Connolly on the absent list. Mos’ netminder Damien King was facing his brother Euan in the Peterborough Phantoms net.

Damien King was called into action within the opening couple of minutes, getting down low to deny Conor Pollard after he was found in space by Nathan Selem. The Mos were more than matching the Phantoms and an attack led by Steve Osman resulted in Greg Pick boarding the Mos’ forward and receiving two penalty minutes for his troubles. Louis Colvin had the best opportunity on the resulting powerplay which had Euan King making his first save of the evening.

The Mos continued to defend well against the hosts and restricted them to very little but on 11:52 Ryan Morgan got penalised for cross checking leaving the Mos to defend their first powerplay of the evening. Despite a few dangerous passes cutting across Damien King’s goalmouth the Mos continued to show their strong resilience and soon returned to full strength. However, the deadlock was finally broken on 14:52 – James Ferrara rifling past Damien King for 1-0 to the Phantoms.

The Phantoms almost doubled their lead on 18 minutes when Darius Pliskauskas intercepted a loose pass and rattled the Mos’ goalframe. Possession soon switched to the other end and when Tommy Ralph shot from the left his shot was padded away by Euan King straight to Mason Webster who found the back of the net for 1-1 on 19:21.

The second period had both Harrison Lillis and William Weldon both sitting in the penalty box on 22 minutes following shoving in one of the corners of the Dynamos’ zone. The game was now on a 4 on 4 situation whilst the penalties were served and the extra space allowed the Phantoms to creep ahead once more on 23:35 – Darius Pliskauskas unleashing a powerful drive beyond Damien King for 2-1.

Jaroslav Cesky lost control of the puck on 30 minutes leaving Leigh Jamieson on a break but the forward managed to slip enabling Harrison Lillis to clear any potential danger. A diving Louis Colvin did well to deny Ales Padelek with a brave body block whilst the Mos were denied seconds later by Euan King who denied Ashley Jackson following good work by Cesky.Damien King made an impressive save from James White to keep the scoreline at 2-1 at the end of the 2nd period.

The final frame saw Damien King called into action again, this time denying Ben Russell.A great glove save by the Mos’ netminder minutes later frustrated Owen Griffiths with the Phantoms piling on heavy pressure at the Mos. Play switched to the other end briefly with Seb Downing hitting two quick shots which were saved by Euan King. The game was being played at a high tempo and the officials did well to stop Mason Webster and Ales Padelek doing anything more than a few shoves at each other away from the puck action. A deflected shot off Ferrara almost caught the Mos out with the game edging towards the final ten minutes of the game.

The Phantoms were now looking the more likely to score next and after Glenn Billing screwed a shot wide Damien King was again called into action to deny a couple of incoming shots in a matter of seconds. Another save from Billing injured King on 54:18 leaving the Mos’ netminder requiring treatment. The Pantoms finally doubled their lead on 55:18 – Nathan Salem bulging the Mos’ net for 3-1. The game was then put beyond the Mos reach on 57:59 – James Ferrara grabbing his second goal of the evening. However, there was time for a consolation goal for the Mos – Mason Webster also grabbing his second goal of the night on 58:09 assisted by Cesky.

So a 4-2 defeat for the Mos who’ll look to bounce back against the London Raiders next weekend. Man of the match for the Mos went to Tommy Ralph.

Picture supplied by Nicola Allen.