Additional Comments:

A short-benched Lions got this match off to a cracking start as they stole the march on the team from down the A2. The first ten minutes was owned by Lee Valley as they stormed to a two-goal lead. Invicta looked at sixes and sevens and the Lions took full advantage.

In the first minute Michael Ranby slotted a pass through their defence to Gennadi Yufit who was on his own, clear of the Mustangs’ defence, and he flew at their goalie, neatly deking him to open the scoring. The second goal, five minutes later, originated from some good defence. The Lions were killing a penalty and after the puck was cleared into the Invicta zone, their goalie, Steve Grout, was forced to cover the puck. Lee Valley won the ensuing face-off, the puck came back to Sam Partington who hit a wrist shot on goal, the rebound dropped to Ashley Curtin who tapped home.

Invicta then found their feet and started to play and this, coupled with the re-appearance of some typical Lions errors, gave them the opportunity to get back into the game. By the end of the first session the match was level, the Mustangs having scored twice, both goals originating from turnovers in the Lions’ zone and the second goal coming when Lee Valley had a one-man advantage. Both Invicta goals came from Shaun Meaney, assisted by Michal Mikel, the first also assisted by Peter Carey.

In the second period, Invicta edged ahead but the scoreline could have been different as Lee Valley had chances but the puck seemed determined not to hit the back of the net. Sam Partington shot from the hash marks and the puck rolled along the crossbar before dropping out, as fans held their breath thinking it was going in.

Invicta then scored two goals, including the first of a four-goal tally for Michal Mikel. Within thirty seconds of their fourth, the Lions were back in the game as Gennadi Yufit got his second of the evening before Asley Curtin hit a terrific narrow-angle shot to square the score. End-to-end hockey was the rule of this period and Invicta were quick to respond, Mikel scoring over the glove hand of Lions’ goalie, Andrew Boot, just over a minute later.

Michael Ranby had a good chance to equalise, but the puck rolled off the end of his stick as he skated across the face of the goal with Steve Grout in the Mustangs net stranded. Lee Valley did pull the elusive goal back as a shot from Joe Berry bobbled and fooled the Invicta goalie. Invicta went into the final break one goal ahead just after tempers flared, Michael Ranby and Invicta’s Loyde Fuller having a short-lived altercation.

The third period belonged to Invicta as they put 19 shots on Andrew Boot, compared to just 6 faced by Steve Grout. The Mustangs scored four unanswered goals to take the game by a scoreline of 10–5. The Lions had a couple of chances, Nick Alley hitting one shot just over the crossbar but the majority of play was in the Lions’ zone. Twice Andrew Boot had to come out of his goal to poke-check the puck from an Invicta forward; once he was almost at the blue line! Two of the Mustangs goals came on the powerplay, the first when the Lions were down to three skaters thanks to an elementary “Too Many Men” call, referee Hayden noticing the home team had five players on the ice when already on a penalty kill.

The shots on goal statistics tell one side of the story as Lee Valley faced 57 while only putting 23 on the Invicta goalie. For two periods this was, in fact, a close, end-to-end game that was enjoyed by the fans, but in the third session the game just got away from the Lions. They had lost two players during the first two periods to injuries that saw them take no further part in the match, reducing them to just 9 skaters, and this no doubt contributed to their demise.

Referee was Hayden, Linesmen were Gibbs and Popluha’r.

Thanks to Tony Boot for writing this match report.