THE previous meeting was still fresh in Chelmsford Chieftains’ minds as Invicta Dynamos came to Riverside on Saturday.

The previous match had seen Chieftains thrashed 6-1 and when the Dynamos took the lead only four minutes into this game, fans were concerned.

But Chieftains soon responded when player/coach Gary Clarke equalised at 5:29 to get the ball rolling.

Chieftains piled on the pressure and put on a fine display of fast-flowing hockey.

Before the buzzer went to end the first period, goals from Matt Turner, Daniel Volrab, Grant Bartlett and another from Clarke gave them a healthy 5-1 lead. It was clear Chieftains wanted payback for the previous result between the rivals.

As in the first period it was Invicta that scored first, and the visitors looked to narrow the gap even further when Cameron Bartlett was given a two-minute penalty for slashing at 24:36.

But as Invicta pressurised the Chieftains net with a player advantage Clarke stole the puck and went clear, one on one with ex-Chieftain Chris Douglas in the Dynamo net and Clarke was soon celebrating his hat-trick goal.

Just seconds before the second period break Ross Brears had Douglas removing the puck from the net once again and Chieftains looked home and dry at 7-2.

In the third period Douglas was replaced in the Invicta net by David Jackson.

But with Chieftains on a Powerplay James Ayling finished in style to mark the beginning of a nightmare for Jackson and his Dynamo team-mates.

Invicta had got into penalty trouble and Chieftains made them pay by scoring another five goals in just seven minutes.

John Connolly added his name to the scoresheet with Bartlett, Clarke, and Turner adding to their personal tally, the latter scoring two to become the second player of the night to score a hat-trick.

Chieftains were now out of sight and when the Dynamo scored with only 15 seconds left on the clock to make the final score 13-3 even the home fans used it as a warm-up for the full celebration that started when the buzzer ended the game.

A fantastic performance and fans started to look forward to the following days encounter with rivals London Raiders, formerly Romford Raiders.

******* That match started well with Darren Brown scoring at 14:24, but before the home fans’ goal celebration was over the Raiders were level, Frankie Harvey the scorer.

Things were pretty even until Chieftains’ weekend turned sour with 23 minutes on the clock.

Things fell apart as Chieftains picked up a series of penalty calls including a major for defenceman Julian Smith who was given a 5 + game + match for butt-ending.

So the pressure was on as they had to face London powerplay for the majority of the second period.

And the short-handed Chieftains could to nothing about London’s powerplay as the Raiders scored three goals, and the Chieftains knew the final 20 minutes was going to be an uphill battle.

Romford’s defence was making it hard going for the Chieftains to put any kind of attack together, marking closely, halting Chieftains normal fast attacking style of hockey.

And when Chieftains forward Darren Brown scored both his and his team’s second goal of the night at 43:17, once again Romford replied immediately to keep the three-goal advantage.

Luke Brittle narrowed the gap with ten minutes remaining but the battle was already looking to be over, and when the final buzzer sounded it was the away team celebrating a well-earned 5-3 victory.

Despite Sunday’s result Chieftains remain top of both league and cup tables.