Invicta Dynamos are preparing to get their league season under way after a tough opening weekend in the Challenge Cup.

The Mos were beaten 4-1 at home by the Chelmsford Chieftains and 2-0 away at Streatham Redhawks in their first games back on the ice last weekend.

Despite the results, head coach Karl Lennon felt there were plenty of positive signs from his side. They begin their NIHL South Division 1 challenge away to Romford Buccaneers before a Sunday game at home to the Solent Devils.

Lennon said: “I was very happy with some of the performances I saw from certain players in particular.

“The players were very down on Saturday after the performance and were a little bit down on Sunday as well, which they should be because they put a lot of effort in and hadn’t got the result out that they wanted.

“Even still, you have to look at it in the context of the situation. I think the context would give you a feeling that we can compete and that’s positive.”

The Mos hadn’t had a warm-up game before those two Challenge Cup matches and with new faces in the team it was a big task against two sides who are fancied to be challenging at the top end this season.

“It was a tough start,” said the coach. “We were playing against two of the better sides from the division, both of whom had games in either the pre-season or had already started their league campaign.

“We were going in fresh on the Saturday, so that didn’t help. But I thought we started quite well.”

Chelmsford scored against the run of play to take the lead and added a second soon after.

“Spirits dropped a little bit as a result of it,” admitted Lennon.

He also had to deal with an injury blow in the second period after key offensive player Aaron Connolly picked up a back injury which limited his mobility.

The Mos trailed 3-0 at the end of the second period but got a goal back through Cameron Pywell and took their netminder off with 1min18sec to go yet ended up conceding an empty-net fourth.

Lennon said: “I think the score probably flattered them a little bit and certainly as the game went on, we played better.

“There were positives in terms of the way we responded to setbacks in the game but it was just too little, too late.

“What was quite incredible was the attendance. I think probably 800-900 there on the weekend.”

It was a feisty encounter, with three scraps in the game, and penalties handed out as early as the second minute.

Lennon said: “I didn’t tell the guys to do. It’s just the way things play out sometimes.

“What I said is we need to have more grit and determination as a club. Aaron started that off two minutes into the game!

“Some other guys in the line-up did the same thing throughout the fixture. It made for a great atmosphere.”

Connolly missed the game on Sunday and Andy Smith picked up a strain Mos didn’t take any risks with. Dan Scott missed both fixtures through work commitments.

The Mos were 2-0 down at the end of the first period and that’s how it stayed.

The coach praised the defensive performance after the early setback, saying: “We then had two periods of nothing-nothing, where I thought defensively we were spectacular.

“[Netminder] Brad Windebank all weekend was awesome and some of the performances in defence were incredible.

“Our new import Danny Gatenby was brilliant on both nights, but in particular on Sunday. He had never played hockey in this country before and he’s going to be much stronger for this weekend.

“Jacob Ranson was man-of-the-match on Sunday, he was in such great form throughout the course of the game.

“It’s never nice to get shut out against anyone. I can probably count on one hand how many times that’s happened for me as a coach.

“The takeaway from the weekend for me is that across three periods, we matched two of the best sides. Unfortunately for us, we just didn’t in the other three. That got them the results. That’s what we need to turn around.

“You have to put into context, we had a lot of newbies in the line-up. Andy Smith hasn’t played for 10 years. He’s got nervousness and excitement around doing that. That comes with some challenges.

“You’ve got three or four younger lads that have never played for the Dynamos before. We’ve got a few new players in the team that have come from other clubs. Everybody’s got that nervous energy. It’s great, of course, but does that bring the best out of them on the night? In some ways, yes. In some ways, no.

“I think what you could see was a noticeable difference in the team from Saturday to Sunday in terms of their competition levels, their performance levels.”