Lee Valley Lions were unable to add to last week’s win over Swindon Wildcats 2 as they fell to a 12-3 home defeat in the reverse fixture, leaving them three points adrift at the bottom of NIHL South 2.

Joshua Irish, Ben Gillingham and Joe Berry, who combined for two goals and four assists last time out, were all unavailable for the Lions, while the visitors welcomed back several players who had missed the previous weekend’s game.

It was a disastrous first period for the Lions, falling 3-0 behind within the first seven minutes as Jason Warren, Eliot Randall and Jack Goodchild all netted, and Joseph Llewellyn added a fourth in just the 17th minute.

Last week’s shutout hero, Steve Grout, was then introduced in place of James Andrew, but he was powerless to stop the Wildcats adding to their tally as Randall and Mason Lipsey made it a shocking 6-0 scoreline going into the first break.

The second period ended up being a lot closer with only one goal scored, but it still went Swindon’s way to make it seven and, inside 26 seconds of the third period, the Wildcats had added another to through Warren and Jake Williams, taking their total to nine.

This finally sparked a revival within the hosts, and they hit three goals between the 43rd and 47th minutes through Tom Hnilica, Alex Clarke and Michael Jacobs.

However, Harry Llewelleyn scored to make it double figures for the away side, and Reed Sayers increased the score to 11-3, prompting the Lions to reintroduce Andrew in goal in place of Grout.

There was one more goal in it, though, as Randall sealed his hat-trick for Swindon to cap a huge 12-3 victory that pulls them further away from the Lions in the table.

Lee Valley’s next game sees them face another struggling side in Basingstoke Buffalo on Saturday, February 9, facing off at 5pm at the Lee Valley Ice Centre.