Lee Valley Lions suffered another heavy defeat on Sunday night, this time going down 10-0 on the road at Peterborough Phantoms.

Nick Alley scored three of the first four against his former club before adding a fourth at the end, while there was also a double for Clint Herring and single goals for Shaun Yardley, Conor Pollard, Jake Samal and Craig Ellis.

The Lions were without several first-team regulars, including Joe Berry and Conner Smith, who picked up injuries in last week’s defeat to Invicta, leaving the side with just 14 skaters.

Phantoms dominated right from the start and Alley, who made the switch from the Lions in the summer, put the hosts 1-0 up in the seventh minute before Yardley doubled the lead less than two minutes later.

The away side held firm for a while, but Alley got his second of the game in the 18th minute to leave the Lions trailing by three going into the first intermission.

The second period was disrupted by a series of penalties, giving the Lions plenty of powerplay opportunities which they were unable to take advantage of.

Phantoms capitalised on this and extended their lead in the 28th minute when Alley completed his hat-trick.

With just a minute and a half remaining in the second period, Lions fell further behind as Herring added his first and, despite some further powerplay opportunities at the start of the third period, Phantoms were able to counter, and Herring converted his second to make it six.

It took only another 90 seconds for the hosts to further extend their lead and this time Pollard was the one to convert, making it seven in the 43rd minute.

Phantoms became relentless in the latter stages as the Lions began to tire, and they added a further three goals to take them into double figures.

Samal and Ellis netted respectively before Alley, who had started the scoring what felt like a long time ago for the visitors, finished it off with the tenth with goaltender James Andrew powerless to deny him.

There was a heated moment towards the end of the game when Phantoms’ Herring received a 2+10 penalty for boarding, leading to a fight between Yardley and Lions’ Yasin Sridhar, with both receiving four penalty minutes for roughing.

The final score keeps the Lions rooted to the bottom of South 2 (Wilkinson), and they are now seven points behind Swindon Wildcats 2 after their 8-1 win over Basingstoke Buffalo.

The Lions will be on the road again this coming Saturday (March 2) as they visit Bracknell Hornets, with faceoff at 6.00pm.