Invicta Dynamos return to NIHL South Division 1 action this Sunday in Gillingham against Romford Buccaneers a week after two forgettable fixtures with Streatham
05:00, 18 January 2024
Invicta Dynamos will be keen to put last weekend’s unsavoury incidents behind them when they host Romford Buccaneers on Sunday.
The Mos could be facing league sanctions after their Southern Cup match at Streatham was abandoned. They faced the London side again the following day in the league and suffered an 8-3 loss.
More: Invicta release forward after Streatham trouble
While head coach Karl Lennon will be focused on getting league points this weekend against the Buccaneers there will also be one eye on Streatham’s South League Cup fixture against Solent Devils - a game which will decide if the Dynamos remain in the competition.
The Mos currently occupy fourth spot in the standings and ironically now need Streatham to win against Solent to keep themselves in the tournament. Solent will take the final semi-final spot away from the Dynamos if they avoid defeat against the London side.
A win for Streatham would then see them playing the Dynamos again in the cup semi-finals.
Solent’s defeat last weekend in the competition, which kept the Mos’ hopes alive, was one positive from an otherwise forgettable weekend.
“That gave us some small glimmer of hope across the weekend,” said head coach Karl Lennon.
“We now need Streatham of all teams to beat Solent to secure our spot in the semi-finals of the League Cup, which is quite a predicament to be in, that is the nature of our game, it can be weird sometimes.
“Importantly for us, we play Romford and they have just had a great result against Solent. It is a big challenge for us.
“We need to put the past weekend behind us and move forward.”
Mos sit fifth in the NIHL South Division 1 table with Romford four behinds behind in sixth but with games in hand. It’s an important one for the Gillingham side to remain clear and keep in touch with the top four.
Invicta have so far beaten Romford 7-5 in their away league game and 7-3 at Planet ice, Gillingham before that, with both games in September.
“In the away game we did not play well at all,” admitted the head coach. “It was pretty horrendous for the first two periods, it was only really a five-goal swing in the third period that saw us win the fixture.
“I think we are a better team than we were back then, it was quite early on in the season, but I think they are too.
“They have a few really young and talented hockey players that will no doubt cause us some problems. Let’s see what the weekend brings. It’s best for us to get back into hockey and playing what we love and that is the most important thing.”
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