A thrilling 4-4 away draw after being 3-0 down at Chelmsford has set-up the makings for a brilliant second leg in Gillingham for the Invicta Dynamos.
The Dynamos sprung a massive surprise during the warm-up with the ‘retired’ Billy Phillips returning after missing the last 14 games, whilst Grant Baxter (suspension) and Mark Lee (injury) were missing.
The first chance for Invicta fell to Andy Smith, who was starting on the second line but his shot was saved by Euan King. A few seconds later Ross Brears tested Mark McGill in the Invicta net, with the Scottish netminder saving comfortably.
The deadlock was broken on 03:19, Matt Turner putting Chelmsford ahead with a lifted shot over McGill’s left shoulder. Chelmsford should have gone two goals in front on 04:49 when a breakaway had both Darren Brown and Cameron Bartlett racing towards the Invicta goal but McGill held his nerve to kill the puck dead.
A Julian Smith penalty for elbows gave Invicta a powerplay of which the best chance fell to Callum Fowler but after skating from behind the net his shot was saved by Euan King.
With the powerplay over Cameron Bartlett was on a receiving end of hard hit from Nicky Lewis which left Bartlett receiving treatment on the ice. Lewis received two minutes for boarding with Chelmsford taking full advantage by edging two goals in front curtesy of a deflected Ross Brears goal in front of a crowded Invicta net on 09:10.
With the first period coming to a close, the Dynamos successfully defended a 5 on 3 powerplay after Juraj Huska (Elbows) and Billy Phillips (Roughing) both were sent to the penalty box on 15:51 and 16:14 respectively.
Chelmsford increased their lead early in the second period when Martin Piecha beat McGill from close range on 22:34 on a delayed penalty call after Arran Strawson was adjudged to have slashed an opponent.
With the score line now at 3-0, it was vital the next goal fell to the Dynamos and it did on 25:01.A counterattack led by Juraj Huska had the Slovakian forward send a cutting pass across the Chelmsford goal for Andy Smith to tap into the net.
3-1 was soon 3-2 as Andy Smith doubled his goal tally on 25:59 when Michal Oravec carried the puck forward to play-in Smith to ram the puck into the back of the net. A major talking point came on 39:50.
Chelmsford netminder Euan King left his goal area to play the puck in the corner but Billy Phillips arrived at the same time at speed resulting in both colliding and King staying down on the ice whilst receiving treatment. Phillips was given a two minute for his troubles which was punished further with Chelmsford taking advantage of the powerplay through a Michael Ranby slaphot goal on 39:56.
Arran Strawson won possession for the Dynamos on 43 minutes and found Callum Fowler who in turn fed Andy Smith to fire a goal back on 43:05 and complete his hat-trick. With five minutes to go Billy Phillips tested Euan King with a couple of long range shots from face-offs whilst at the other end a scramble in the Dynamos net was well defended by Dewy, Fowler and McGill with bodies flying at the puck to prevent a further goal.
Remarkably, from 3-0 down the Dynamos drew level at 4-4 on 58:10 when Anthony Leone poked a goal from close range to send the away end into madness.
Man of the match awards went to hat-trick hero Andy Smith and Chelmsford forward Matt Turner. Shots on goal ended with Euan King 31 shots faced (87.10%) and Mark McGill 36 shots faced (88.89%).
The second leg is being played on Sunday 29th March at Gillingham with a face-off time at 5:15pm.