Lee Valley Lions continued their National Ice Hockey League South 2 Cup campaign away at Invicta Mustangs on Saturday but came back from Kent with a 10-4 loss.

Invicta had defeated the Lions 6-3 in the cup the previous week leaving the visitors out for revenge, but braces apiece from Jordan Ho and Ross Sin-Hidge were not enough to prevent a fifth straight loss in all competitions.

It was a disastrous start for the away side, who were without defenceman Daniel Tamasauskas as forwards Joe Berry, Robert Cole and Leonie Charles, as they went 4-0 down inside the opening 20 minutes in Gillingham.

Anthony Baskerville opened the scoring for the home side, Richard Harris added a brace and Jake Luton notched the fourth.

Lions were unable to take advantage of three powerplay chances in the opening period so went into the break with it all to do.

Hopes of a second period revival were dealt a blow within 13 seconds of the restart as Kevin Lake made it 5-0 to the hosts, and there were more problems for Lions just two minutes later as forward Tyrone Wells took a two minute penalty for boarding and Aaron Ferris added a sixth goal.

After a calmer period in the game where there were no goals for over 10 minutes, Ho was to restart the scoring when he finally got the Lions on the board with his sixth of the season, assisted by Jordan Sullivan.

Sin-Hidge then pulled a further goal back for the visitors with assists from Ho and Sullivan, but they couldn’t keep the momentum going until the end of the middle frame as Harris and Joseph Bliss made it 8-2 going into the final period.

From the start of the last frame, Lions handed a debut to netminder Naomi Healey, replacing James Andrew between the pipes.

It was to be a long final period as both sides racked up a combined total of 91 penalty minutes for a vast array of incidents.

Sin-Hidge grabbed his second of the game on the 44 minute mark to pull it back to 8-3, and shortly after Mustangs defenceman Jarvis Mewett received 14 penalty minutes for a late hit and check to the head, but Bliss added a shorthanded goal just 10 seconds later to increase their total to nine.

Lions scored their fourth from a 4-on-3 powerplay through Ho, but the scoring finished three minutes from time as Baskerville made it double figures for Mustangs, finishing the game at 10-4.

The last action of the game saw Baskerville drop the gloves to fight with Lions’ Sin-Hidge, receiving four penalty minutes while Sin-Hidge was tossed from the game completely.

The East London side face Mustangs again this Saturday, this time in the league and at home, facing off at 5.30pm.