Lee Valley Lions suffered another defeat in their final home game of the Wilkinson 2 South season, going down 10-2 against Romford Raiders 2.

Tom Hnilica notched both goals for the hosts, taking his tally to 20 for the season, the first time a Lions player has achieved that feat since Blair Dubyk and Scott Beeson eight seasons ago.

Raiders were the first team on the scoresheet though, racing into a two-goal lead courtesy of Brandon Webster and Samuel Austin.

Hnilica then cut the deficit in half with a powerplay goal in the 10th minute, with the assists coming from Joe Berry and Dexter Crawford.

There was no more scoring in the opening period, with both James Andrew and Bran Windebank producing some excellent saves for their respective sides.

The second period started off evenly, but Raiders edged further ahead in the 26th minute through Tommy Huggett, and two quick powerplay goals from Webster and George Gell six minutes later put the game beyond any reasonable doubt, despite Hnilica hitting back with his second, assisted by George Oliver.

Numerous penalties disrupted the flow of the third period, but as has so often been the case this season, the Lions began to tire late on and conceded five goals in the final 16 minutes – Ewan Hill netted twice, Jake Hall added his first and Hugget and Gell increased their respective tallies.

The Lions will be looking to give a strong response on their final game of the season in two weeks’ time (Saturday, April 6) when they visit Bristol Pitbulls at their temporary Oxford Ice Rink home, with faceoff at 5pm.