Invicta Dynamos clinched a home win in the league on Sunday after a tough start to the new season the day before.

An 11-3 defeat to Streatham in the season-opening NIHL Southern Cup was a flattering scoreline for the champions but the Mos - under new coach Karl Lennon - bounced back with a 6-5 South Division 1 league win over Junior Raiders 24 hours later at Planet Ice.

Claiming that win was a big deal for Lennon, managing the team in front of the home fans for the first time since taking over as head coach.

“I grew up in that rink and it felt really special,” Lennon said.

“I was desperate for that first win at home, I didn’t want to start with two losses and the boys came together and got it done and that was really cool.

“This is just the start. We are beginning to see chemistry within the line-up. We made a couple of changes going into the final period, that seemed to spark a bit of difference.

“The players are learning about each other, how they move and work together and what intensity they play with. That will develop over time, you can’t just switch that on, but we are moving forward.”

Saturday’s opener against the league and cup champions was always going to be tough.

Juraj Huska opened the scoring but Streatham were 3-1 up by the end of the first period.

Tom Soar and Stanislav Lascek got goals in the second, which saw the Mos trail 6-3, but five goals conceded without reply led to a big scoreline for the hosts.

Lennon said: “It was a very difficult start for us to go and play in Streatham, they are the benchmark in the league in terms of who we will come up against.

“We started very well, got the first goal and certainly for the first two periods we were in it. We had a power-play and came close to making it 6-4 and then in the final period a little bit of fatigue and maybe a bit of over-confidence on our part meant that we took a few more risks and then they had a flurry of late goals whilst we were tired.

“It was quite flattering to them and at the end of the game they knew they had been in one and a lot of their players were complimentary about the team that we had put together.

“It was our first outing together as a team and there were a lot of positives to take - minutes under the belt, new lines are still gelling together - I was relatively happy despite the result looking quite one-sided.”

The Raiders were in town on Sunday for the first league game of the season and the Mos led the way again thanks to Lascek.

The visitors responded to lead 3-1 but Huska got one back in the second and a strong third period saw them home thanks to goals for Ruskin Springer-Hughes, Louis Colvin, Tom Davis and another for Lascek.

“We probably made harder work of it than we needed to,” admitted Lennon.

“We had a lot of shots where we seemed to shoot straight at the keeper. In the first period we were 1-0 up, second period we went 3-1 down but we came to life in the final period. I think the rink fed off the energy from the players and they got the business done.”

Young players and old pleased the coach in different ways, with Mustangs player Matty Bell, 18, taking the man-of-the-match award while Gregor McAllen and the Chard brothers, Brandon and Taylor, also impressed.

Lennon said: “The young players that we had in the squad on the day were exceptional with the composure and the effort that they put in, I was almost like a proud dad seeing some of those guys.”

Invicta host Slough Jets in their second NIHL South Division 1 match on Saturday (5.15pm) before facing the first of three successive matches against the Chelmsford Chieftains on Sunday, away. They play the same team twice next weekend.

Lennon said: “Slough have a young team and are a very high energy opposition, Chelmsford have lowered the age of their side as well this summer, they also have a high energy new coach as well with a different philosophy. They will both be challenges but ones we are quite excited by.

“Those two will be in and around the top of the league at the end of the season, for us it is a big weekend to make sure we show up and continue the good work from Sunday.”

Tickets for the home match against the Slough Jets can be purchased online or in advance from the venue or from reception on the day of the game.