The Invicta Dynamos two-legged cup semi-final started with a defeat in the first leg, albeit by only a single goal difference.

The Dynamos travelled to the Isle of Wight without Mark Lee and Frankie Harvey. Mark McGill continued in the nets for Invicta.

After a minute in the game Wightlink netminder Matt Colclough produced two saves from Juraj Huska as the Dynamos looked to put early pressure on the home team. The Dynamo’s had another great opportunity after six minutes when Michal Oravec danced past a couple of players and raced towards Colclough but rather than take a shot he tried to pass to Jack Lee but just missed making contact with the young Dynamo.

Wightlink’s Ben Paynter received a ten minute penalty from referee Stephen Matthews on seven minutes for abuse towards officials. After 14 minutes both Wightlink’s Nick Compton and Dynamos’ Arran Strawson were joining Paynter in the penalty area with minor penalties but neither team took advantage of the four-on-four on the ice.

The second period started with Mark McGill saving well from Craig Tribe. Penalties soon followed for Damon Larter and Michal Oravec which came to nothing before Niall Bound was penalised for hooking on 28 minutes.

The Dynamos put pressure on Wightlink during the powerplay but Wightlink held firm and scored immediately after going back to full strength on 30:40 through Craig Tribe, assisted by Owen Griffiths and Jeremy Cornish.

Jeremy Cornish extended the lead on 31:29, assisted by Damon Larter and Owen Griffiths to leave the Dynamos knowing the next goal could be crucial…..and that goal fell to the Dynamos.

Arran Strawson ventured forward on 39 minutes on a powerplay and with passing options around him limited he elected to shoot, with the puck edging past Colclough to give the D-man his second goal in as many games.

21 seconds after the Dynamos goal, Juraj Huska fired the equaliser from long distance assisted by Andy Smith and Callum Fowler.

The third period was the tightest period of the game with chances leading up to the 50^th minute limited but both Mark McGill and Matt Colclough saved comfortably when called into action, Callum Fowler coming the closest after clipping the post on 48 minutes.

With the game closing-out, Mark McGill did well to save a shot from Owen Griffiths but Griffiths was on hand to score from the follow-up, much to the delight of the home fans.

With only a few minutes of the game left, the Dynamos put pressure on Colclough’s goal but the search for the equaliser failed to come.

The overall game produced 41 shots at Matt Colclough and 39 at Mark McGill, showing how evenly balanced the game was. Arran Strawson picked-up the man of the match award for Invicta.