Invicta Dynamos play for a place in the South League Cup final this weekend - and their semi-final opponents are all too familiar.

A fortnight ago Invicta’s Southern Cup match with Streatham Redhawks hit the headlines after being abandoned following a fight at the end of the first period. 10 players picked up bans in the fall-out and the Mos were beaten 8-3 in Gillingham when they met for a league encounter a day later.

More: Invicta feeling hard done by over suspensions

Invicta head coach Karl Lennon felt hard done by with two of the suspensions, which look set to rule out youngsters Matthew Bell and Brandon Chard for this weekend’s cup semi-final. An appeal was lodged but the coach wasn’t holding his breath.

It means a patched-up Invicta - who also picked up injuries during that fiery clash two weeks ago - will need to be at their best to overcome the reigning champions.

Lennon will take what players he has at his disposal and will certainly be looking for a better performance than last weekend when they picked up just a point against Romford Buccaneers, losing the match 7-6 in overtime.

He said: “It’s a big weekend coming up and we are super excited to be part of a cup semi-final again.

“We are a club that self-focus, we are not looking at them and what they’re doing, we have to look at our progression and our development, it means that when you have set-backs you just have to dust yourself down and try to go again.

“We know we can play better than we did last time against them, the Sunday in particular. We were pretty evenly contested in the first period on the Saturday game before it was abandoned and we do owe a performance against them.

“If that and the fact that it’s the semi-final of a cup doesn’t motivate you as a player then I don’t know what will. I for one would thrive on playing in such an occasion.

“These players have to find that conviction, that belief this week, which I know they have inside of them. I have seen it many times and seen them be competitive against the best team in this league.

“The expectation is on them and not on us and we have to maximise that and be the best version of ourselves across the entire weekend.

“We got a point (against Romford last Sunday) even though we didn’t play well so we have to be happy with that, but it’s not good enough, we need to be better and we certainly need to be much better than that if we want to get to a cup final.”

The Dynamos host Streatham in the first encounter on Saturday (face off 5.45pm) before heading to London for the deciding second leg.

Lennon had to play himself last weekend, with numbers so low. It wasn’t an ideal situation.

The head coach said: “Part of my plan was to not ever do that bit when you’re short of players it feels irresponsible as a person who can still play, not to dress at least, in case there are injuries or something happens.

“Thankfully, I did alright on Sunday for an old guy, I did what I could, but I know I am not the same quality or effectiveness as the younger lads in the team. I want them to play, I don’t want to play, that’s not my job, that’s theirs.

“The thing they know, and I told them on Sunday, is that I will do everything in my power to make this club successful. If I am playing it’s not for my own glory, I am playing for our own collective strength, I want them to have that comfort that we are in it together, there is not one person here who is not going to back each other up in a situation like that.

“With the injuries and suspensions we’ve received we weren’t able to put out our strongest line-up in comparison to what we’ve had in recent weeks and I’ve always said that when we have a full-strength roster we are very competitive in this league and the results have shown that, like any team, when you’re depleted you struggle and Sunday was an example of that.

“We missed four of our defencemen that are playing really well, Brandon Chard (suspended) is one of our high-energy forwards who sets the tone for a lot of what we do in certain games.

“Things like that are a challenge to overcome, but challenges are there to be accepted. I don’t think we have done that yet and we need to find a way because that’s what’s on the table this week now.”