London Raiders face a battle to hold on to the final play-off place in the National Ice Hockey League South One after a 5-1 defeat to Wightlink Raiders at Lee Valley on Sunday.

Rivals Oxford pulled to within a point of Raiders after a 4-4 draw at Bracknell on Saturday but the eighth-placed side have a game in hand as the regular season draws to a conclusion.

Raiders had skated to a 6-3 win over the Isle of Wight side last month but fell behind within 42 seconds of the return match and were always chasing the game.

Import Jaroslav Cesky missed the last meeting but made his mark almost immediately as he raced clear to give the visitors the upper hand.

The hosts, who were without their own import forward Jakub Kostelansky, killed off penalties against Stephen Deacon and Alan Lack before Ross Wilkinson clashed with Ben Paynter late in the opening period.

Wight could not capitalise on a powerplay but extended their lead seconds after Wilkinson’s cross-checking penalty had expired as Ryan Webb netted.

Raiders, outshot 15-8 in the first session, responded after the restart through Deacon, but then lost Wilkinson after a tussle with Carl Graham and picked up a ten-minute misconduct on top of his double minor for roughing.

Richard Facey restored Wight’s two-goal advantage before the second interval and a hooking call against David Oliver allowed them to go 4-1 up in the powerplay as Alex Barker beat Chris Douglas.

Barker completed the scoring with five minutes remaining to leave Raiders facing a crucial clash with Solent Devils on Saturday.