It was defeat for the Invicta Dynamos on Saturday night as they ran their opponents close on the Isle of Wight.

Invicta Dynamos lined-up without the services of Mark Lee, Grant Baxter, Frankie Harvey and Adam McNicoll, which meant Harrison Lillis stepped-up to partner Arran Strawson on D.

Opponents Wightlink were at full strength, which included a welcome return for import Jaroslav Cesky.

With under a minute on the clock Mark McGill was called upon to save from Damon Larter. Play switched to the other end shortly afterwards with Michal Oravec calling Matt Colclough into action. A scramble in front of Mark McGill finally produced the first goal of the game. Ryan Webb had a shot blocked and the puck fell to Damon Larter to score on 2:59.

Invicta had a man advantage on 6 minutes after Carl Graham checked Michal Oravec from behind. The Powerplay had an Arran Strawson shot blocked by Owen Griffiths and Callum Fowler tinking the goal frame on 08:09. Further chances fell to Andy Smith, Callum Fowler and Juraj Huska before Huska finally equalised on 14:16 with a powerful shot that almost burst the net.

Barely 30 seconds after being level, the Dynamos fell behind again to a Chris Cooke goal on 14:45 and further behind on 19:33 to a Craig Tribe goal with Jeremy Cornish getting a ten minute misconduct penalty at the end of the first period.

The second period had Mark McGill save from Craig Tribe as the Dynamos tried to keep within touching distance of the home side. The gap was reduced by a single goal on 28:58 after Peter Beerling passed the puck out of defence to Callum Fowler with the pacey forward finding Huska at an angle to shoot past Colclough.

Mark McGill showed top form again to save from Corey Watkins and Richard Facey and later in the period from Craig Tribe. Despite pressure on McGill at times, the score remained 3-2 to the home side at the end of the second period.

The crucial third period started with the Dynamos starting the better. Callum Fowler and Andy Smith combined to set-up Juraj Huska for his hat-trick on 45:26.

Shortly afterwards Colclough saved well from Oravec as it looked increasingly likely that the Dynamos would sneak a lead. Owen Griffiths broke the Dynamo fans hearts on 50:05 when he scored following a good through-pass by Jeremy Cornish.

Griffiths grabbed a second goal on 57:53 when both teams had four skaters on the ice due to penalties.

With the score at 5-3, Kevin Parrish pulled netminder Mark McGill with just over a minute to go but despite pressure from the Dynamos, Wightlink grabbed a 6^th goal on 59:18 when Corey Watkins found the unguarded Invicta goal.

Man of the match awards went to Invicta’s Juraj Huska for his hat-trick, and Owen Griffiths for Wightlink.