THE Gillingham-based Invicta Dynamos ice hockey team look set to take the points against Slough Jets, despite losing last night's bad-tempered but entertaining cup game 5-4.

After the game, referee Mo Ashraff said: “The Dynamos management brought it to my attention that Slough played an ineligible player who was not on the game sheet or team-list. This leaves the result of the game in query. I will be submitting this in my report and the league will decide the outcome.”

The player in question was Matt Sirman, who came into the side because Jets were without Chris McEwan, Adam Greener and Marc Long.

If Invicta win what looks like a cut and dry appeal they will be awarded a 5-0 win.

The penalty-laden game was full of passion despite the fact neither team could progress in the cup and that desire boiled over into two memorable fights.

Elliott Andrews was left bloody and bruised by Stuart Tait, but definitely won the contest, de-bagging his opponent and flinging him to the ice. Then on the final buzzer livewire Michael Wales went head-to-head with renowned hardman Norman Pinnington.

The big Slough D-man has quite a reputation, but Wales gave as good as he got and even had the experienced bruiser's shirt over his head to the delight of the home crowd.

Both teams went into the game smarting after heavy defeats the night before. Invicta's terrible third period display led to a 9-2 loss at Isle of Wight, while Slough were humiliated 7-0 at home by Peterborough.

Invicta player-coach Carl Greenhous said: “Isle of Wight is always a tough place to go, but we are hugely disappointed because we were right in the game for the first two periods.

“In the third, a 10 minute misconduct charge on Jake French did not help as we had to shuffle the lines. Isle of Wight exploited this and scored five goals. Once again our squad's lack of depth hurt us when we lost a key player.”

Greenhous was happier with his team the following night. He said: “I thought we played a good 60 minutes of hockey and there was certainly an intensity about the game.

“But once again defensive breakdowns, turnovers and our inability to clear the puck from our own defensive zone led to most of their goals.”

Slough opened the scoring after just 1.18 when Pinnington picked up the puck from an Invicta defensive error and shot past an unsighted Matt Van Der Velden.

Ninety seconds later Sean Clement floated a beautifully weighted pass down centre ice and Duane Ward and two defencemen gave chase. Netminder Simon Smith came hurtling out his area, but Ward showed his strength and plucked the attempted clearance out of the air, flicking it into the unguarded net.

The first penalties of the night were called at 13.45 when Wales and Pinnington both received 2+2 for roughing, but the Mos wasted this and a second powerplay.

In the final minute, Matt Foord scored assisted by Scott Moody to see Slough go into the first break leading 2-1.

Second period saw the Mos convert their third powerplay, Peter Korff scoring assisted by Adam Smith and Sean Clement.

Slough hit back immediately with a collector's item, a Van Der Velden howler. The normally solid netminder let a Pinnington shot in off his pads, but redeemed himself minutes later when he got a toe to Jan Hoest's one-on-one attempt.

Slough ended the second period by scoring a great team goal where precision passes by Adam Bicknell and James Reilly set up David Heath to score a belter.

The third period opened with more rough stuff, but the fight hardly got going between Pinnington and Wales although both receiving two minutes for roughing. A minute later another pair of penalties were called on Andrews and loose cannon Tate.

Man of the match Duane Ward made it 4-3 at 43.41, but Slough once again replied quickly at 44.15 through Michael Plenty.

Tate's night ended at 53.19 when he was called 2+10 for a cynical and cheap charge from behind on Andrews. Thirty seconds later Andrews scored on the resultant powerplay, but the deserved equaliser eluded the Dynamos.