AN UNDERSTRENGTH Dynamos ice hockey side suffered their worst defeat of the season last night, losing 11-3 at Romford.

The outcome of this final league game had no relevance to the final standings as the Mos had already been crowned English National Premier League champions, so the coaching staff took the opportunity to rest players who had been carrying slight knocks.

Missing were Sean Clement (back), Phil Chard (hip), Duane Ward (flu) and Kevin Parrish (broken skate). With two important play-off games coming up against the Raiders in March, Invicta will be hoping they haven't handed the psychological advantage to their biggest rivals.

But player-coach Andy Hannah said: “I have no doubt we can beat the Raiders when the game means something. We had an undermanned side, which is why we lost, but when it comes to the play-offs it will be a different story.”

The result does seem to be a one off as Rom Valley Way has been a happy hunting ground for the Dynamos this season and the Raiders have only won once in eight meetings between the two sides. The Romford team were on a high after influential but hot-headed import Jason Rushton pledged his allegiance to the gold and blues for the rest of the season and possibly the next.

The Dynamos probably sensed it was not going to be a good night as Carl Greenhous gave the home side a 2-0 head start by twice putting past his own netminder Adam Noctor in the opening five minutes.

Team manager Andy Mason said: “Both were very unfortunate deflections but we never really recovered from that and didn’t score ourselves until midway through the third period when we were already 7-0 down. It was a closer game than the scoreline suggests as we had 35 shots on goal compared to their 38.

"We used the game as a chance to keep our number one netminder Matt Van Der Velden fit and fresh for the important cup and play-off games. The players we were missing were key players so it messed up all our lines and in the end it was a damage limitation exercise.

“The players feel bad for the fans that travelled all that way but will make it up to them in coming weeks."

* Dynamos’ goals came from Matt Beveridge and Greenhous

* The dates for semi-finals of the League Cup, against Nottingham Lions, have been announced. The first leg will take place on Sunday at the Ice Bowl with the return leg on Sunday, March 17. The Mos have play-off games against Swindon Lynx (a) March 9 and (h) March 24 and against Romford Raiders (h) March 10 and (a) March 31.