Despite goals from captain Andy Smith and Canadian ‘import’ Ryan Ellis, the Invicta Dynamos slipped to a narrow 3-2 loss on Saturday evening as the Wightlink Raiders claimed victory on the island in the ENIHL South Division 1.

Buoyed by recent performances, and bolstered by the arrivals of Alastair Band and Callum Best who were both making their debuts, the Dynamos would have been looking for a quick start at the Ryde Arena but they suffered a disastrous opening frame as the hosts raced into a 3-0 lead.

The first of the trio came in the seventh minute as the Raiders took advantage of a powerplay and surged ahead as defenceman Dominic Hopkins rifled in beyond netminder Andy Moffat. Four minutes from time they then doubled their advantage with player/coach Jeremy Cornish finding the target and it was three moments before the buzzer when Conor Pollard put the puck over the line for the commanding edge.

The Dynamos refused to let their heads drop however, and they were back in the tie within a minute of the restart when captain Andy Smith combined with Canadian Ryan Ellis to find away beyond goalie Liam McAllister. Shortly after the first puck drop of the third, Ellis then claimed a goal himself to set up a tense finale but, despite outshooting their hosts by 16 efforts to 11 in the final frame, the travelling side were unable to secure an equaliser and ultimately slipped to a narrow 3-2 defeat.

So it was a loss for the Dynamos but one their performance perhaps did not deserve with Wightlink goalie Liam McAllister largely responsible for securing the win for the Raiders. McAllister’s fine display, which saw him concede just two of 44 shots on goal, saw him take the man of the match award for the hosts whilst Andy Smith claimed the honours for the visitors.

Smith’s goal saw him raise his all time points’ tally for the Dynamos to 698 ahead of Sunday’s ENIHL Southern Cup tie with the Chelmsford Chieftains.