TRUE to form, the Gillingham-based ice hockey team, Invicta Dynamos, lost to Milton Keynes Lightning and comfortably beat Haringey Racers this weekend on the road.

The 7-4 defeat at Milton Keynes on Saturday in the English National Premier League Cup leaves Invicta little chance of progressing to the next stage of the competition.

Team manager Andy Mason said: “It was a better performance, but Milton Keynes have three very strong lines so any team finds it tough to get anything from them. We matched them in work-rate, but again defensive errors cost us the game.”

The Dynamos conceded what has become a customary early goal at 2.39 when former-Mo Mikko Skinnari set up Dwayne Newman. Two minutes later and the home side were two-up, Phil Wooderson from Mark Conway and Dean Campbell.

Matt Beveridge dragged his side back into the game at 7.15 thanks to man-of-the-match Sean Clement and Duane Ward who started the move.

Lightning then incurred two penalties in 20 seconds, but embarrassingly on a five-on-three powerplay, the Dynamos could not get the puck past Allen Sutton in the home net. At 16.25, Leigh Jamieson (holding) became the third MK player to visit the penalty box. This time the powerplay was not spurned as Greg Hales got that scoring feeling, with assists once again going to Clement and Ward.

But the home side hit back within 30 seconds to reclaim their lead when hot-shot Gary Clarke smashed in his 83rd goal of the season.

MK then made a mockery out of Invicta’s poor powerplay performances, by converting their first through Poole at 22.38 after Carl Greenhous was sin-binned for holding the stick.

Two unassisted goals by Clarke and Skinnari gave the home side a four-goal cushion, but still Invicta fought and Greenhous combined with Beveridge to make it 6-3.

At 41.33, Krater struck and although Beveridge had the last say at 50.58, it was an easy win for the current table toppers of both the league and the cup.

Despite brushing aside Haringey Racers 6-2 on Sunday, the reigning English National Premier League champions can no longer mathematically retain their title.

The early goal came once gain, but this time it was the Mos who got it, Beveridge scoring unassisted at 3.31. Three minutes later, Racers’ captain Danny Farren had squared matters and although Invicta outshot the home side 23-10, the first period ended without another goal.

A dominant second period saw the Mos seal the win as Beveridge completed his hat-trick and Ward nicked in on the powerplay. Racers replied through Dave Richards, but with Tom Willis by far the busier of the two netminders, facing 52 shots compared to Matt Van Der Velden’s 26, it was no surprise when Greg Hales wrapped up the scoring at 56.51, assisted by Ward and Phil Chard.