Invicta Dynamos returned to the ice from a two-week break but the coach admitted the rest wasn’t the best preparation for a busy weekend.

The Mos won 4-2 away against the Romford Buccaneers on Saturday before a below-par performance the following day as they lost 5-1 at home to the Chelmsford Chieftains.

Karl Lennon’s men hadn’t been in action since beating MK Thunder 4-1 on February 18 and it needed a couple of late goals to see off Romford on the Saturday.

Lennon said: “It was good to get back into it after we had two weeks off but by the end of the weekend you could probably see that in terms of the performances.

“There was good energy on Saturday and we were glad to be back on the ice. It’s a tough place to play, the team at Romford are young and very energetic and they have a beautiful ice rink there - it was a tough start back.

“It was quite a physical game and the guys did a great job in terms of getting the result.

“It was not our highest quality performance but it was effective.

“What I liked about the performance was that despite not playing our best quality of hockey, we were dogged and really got stuck in and made it all happen. We were good for the two points at the end of it.”

Against the Chiefs on Sunday the Mos went behind early, trailing 2-0 after five minutes and the visitors added a third in the second period before Brandon Chard got one back. It was their only goal of the night.

“We didn’t perform to the level that we should have done on Sunday and that’s frustrating,” said the player-coach.

“We were poor with the physical part and maybe the mental part on Sunday, we gave up two or three goals on the powerplay and then gave up a shorthanded goal, special teams are really important in hockey and we gave them a three-goal lead from that, then it is really difficult to get back into it.

“Aside from that, the performance wasn’t good enough on Sunday and I played myself and so I take that accountability on my shoulders, I was part of it, we have to be better for it.

“Two games this weekend after two weeks off was probably a tougher task than it would have been had we been in the full flow of things.”

Invicta will play Solent Devils over two legs in the play-off quarter-finals as the teams will finish the regular league season in mid-pack, occupying fourth and fifth positions. Next up for the Mos is a trip to Milton Keynes Thunder this Sunday.