Invicta Dynamos head coach Kevin Parrish says his side will use their controversial play-off concession to spur them on to victory.

The Mos were backed into a corner by the ENIHL, being forced to concede their opening game of the play-offs against Bracknell after being unable to host the game on Saturday because the Gillingham Ice Bowl is unavailable.

The league initially looked set to award Bracknell Hornets a 5-0 win – despite Mos insisting they have always told the league they were unable to play home games on Saturdays – but eventually relented and awarded the Berkshire side victory without any goals against for the Dynamos.

Parrish (pictured) said: "We’ve had a couple of team meetings about it. At the first meeting when it looked like we would be given a 5-0 defeat, the feeling was that we were not going to take part in the play-offs on principle.

"It would have made it an uphill struggle straight away – we’d have needed to go and win the next game 6-0 just to get back on terms.

"We had another meeting and when it emerged we were just going to get the defeat, we figured we had nothing to lose."

The seven-times ENIHL Division 1 South champions now open their campaign at Oxford City Stars on Sunday night.

Parrish said: "We have got to win three out of three now, it’s that simple. Hopefully, all this will give the players a big incentive.

"In training there has been a high tempo. If you can’t get up for play-off games when you’re in this situation you shouldn’t be playing
the sport."

He added: "You kind of start thinking there might be a conspiracy going on but I’d like to think there is not. The other teams had a week between each game, we were the only ones who were given a double-header. It is all a bit strange.

"The league knew at every meeting for the 10 years the club has been around that we can’t get ice-time on Saturdays – the Ice Bowl would lose out on too many bookings and a lot of money."