Big Puck reports: CUP CAMPAIGN BEGINS WITH DEFEAT

Thanks to Pete and the team at Chelmsford for the report.

It was a disappointing start to the South East Cup campaign for the Chieftains against a resurgent Invicta Dynamos on Sunday night. Slipping to a 2-0 deficit before the end of the first period, the Chieftains were always up against it and despite some valiant efforts from the players, they were unable to break down Andy Moffat in the Dynamos net who was playing one of the games of his life.

Andy Smith and Ryan Ellis combined in the first period with both getting on the scoresheet, thanks to an assist from the other. A quiet second period saw the scores remain the same, despite some scares at both ends. The game also had it's fair share of flare-ups, but no gloves were dropped though and the officials just about kept a lid on things. The Chieftains were taking control of the game now and managed to pepper Moffat's goal with 20 shots in the second session, to only 9 on Ben Clements at the other end.

Into the third and the Chieftains stamped their authority on the game and a Danny Hammond goal at 50:38 on the powerplay gave the travelling fans hope that something could be gained from this match, but less than 2 minutes later Justin Noble restored the home sides 2 goal advantage. Back came the Chieftains though and Dwayne Newman scored again with only 4 seconds left, but needless to say it was to no avail and the side ended up losing 3-2.

James Ayling took home the man of the match beers, while former Chieftain Moffat took the award for the home side.

Player-coach Gary Clarke said after the game "It's disappointing, especially after last weeks win over Romford, to lose to Invicta. We worked hard and were always in the game, but things just didn't go our way and we didn't get the bounce at times and ultimately we were to lose out. We'll go back in training and try and work on some things which I felt we struggled with tonight and things that didn't go according to plan and we'll bounce back. There's enough character in the side to do so and I'm confident when we go to Cardiff on Saturday and Wightlink come and visit on Sunday we'll be ready for them".

Back in Essex it was a goal fest as the second string Warriors ran out 10-7 winners over a lacklustre Swindon ENL Wildcats. Cameron Bartlett notched 4 goals, while Richie Whiting ran in 3 with single markers coming from Gary Brown, Reece Covington and Paul Merchant. Bartlett also won man of the match for his 4 goal haul.