Milan Kostolny’s hat-trick helped Invicta Dynamos ensure progression in the ENIHL Cup with a 5-4 victory against Haringey Greyhounds at the Gillingham Ice Bowl on Sunday evening.

"Our performance as a whole was pretty poor," said head coach Kevin Parrish. "There are some positives to take out. We’ve ended up with a win and I’m pleased to have qualified. But there are also a lot of negatives."

Playing with fluidity against inferior opponents, Invicta should have been six up by the first break. Instead they only held a one-goal advantage.

Kostolny scored the first after 31 seconds. Calum Mathison equalised at 13.03, before Jamie Dancey’s first for the club made it 2-1 at 16.07.

As the second period wore on, Invicta were continually brought down to Haringey’s level of scrappy, disjointed hockey. This didn’t stop the home side from increasing their lead, however, as goals from Karl Lennon and Kostolny were dispatched either side of a Greyhounds second.

The scrappy play continued in the third period, along with a nasty edge started by Martin Melichercik’s open-ice hit on Dave Richards. With both players sitting in the box for roughing, Mathison’s second marker resulted in wild celebrations from Richards, before Kostolny completed his hat-trick to make it 5-3.

Haringey pulled within one to set up a tense final 11 minutes, which included Elliot Andrews going toe-to-toe with Alistair Band, but Invicta rode out the clock to claim the two points.