When Chelmsford Chieftains last visited Streatham, three weeks ago, they demolished the Redskins 10-1 and they were topping the Division One South table.

On Saturday they travelled to south London once again and came away at the wrong end of a 6-3 scoreline and at the same time lost the top spot to rivals Wightlink Raiders.

The team arrived at the new Streatham rink with only three defencemen on the bench.

Julian Smith, Tibor Schneider and Alex Staples were all missing and Cameron Bartlett was switched from his normal attacking role.

And without any games for a fortnight, with no on ice training due to Riverside’s annual pantomine, Chieftains made a slow start and found themselves trailing 2-0 at the end of the first period.

But just 25 seconds into the second period, Darren Brown latched on to a Matt Turner pass and put the puck into the Redskins net to narrow the gap.

But the two-goal margin was back in place at 27:23 when Steven Fisher beat Chieftains netminder Ryan Bainborough.

Trailing 3-1 as the players returned to the ice for the final period, the Chieftains took the game to their opponents and within six minutes the teams were level, both Luke Brittle and Ross Brears on target.

But once again the travelling fans’ joy was short-lived as Redskins once again retook the lead, 30 seconds later.

Chieftains continued to look for the equaliser, but as they continued to press forward, Streatham took advantage of the lack of defence, and, with just two minutes remaining, scored twice in quick succession to take maximum points.

Chieftains are back on the ice this weekend with back to back cup games against London Raiders (formerly Romford).

On Saturday the Chieftains travel to Lee Valley, the Raiders temporary home, and on Sunday the Raiders come to Riverside (6.30pm face-off).