Lee Valley Lions’ NIHL South 2 Cup campaign came to an end recently as they lost 4-2 at Bristol Pitbulls.

Teenager Rowan Champney and Jordan Sullivan were on the scoresheet for the Lions but it wasn’t enough to get them off the mark in the competition, and they finish the group stage at the bottom with six losses from six.

A host of players were missing for the visitors with forwards Leonie Charles, Robert Cole, Joe Berry, Lewis Blore, Charlie Nichols, Joe Miller and Ben Margerison all unavailable and defencemen James Joseph, Richie Pickering and Tom Baptist were not in the squad either.

Lions put in a positive start on the night and they out-shot their opponents 13-12 in the first period, however it was Bristol who took the lead after seven minutes when Zachary Dolphin fired in the game’s first goal.

Still, a fairly even first half ensued in terms of play, and there was to be no more scoring action until right at the end when Pitbulls doubled their advantage.

Bristol’s Jordan Jeffries and Lions duo Tyrone Wells and Harry Sage all went to the penalty box with just five second left before the interval, giving the hosts a powerplay, and they made the most of it as Dolphin converted his second of the night right on the buzzer.

Champney got his side’s first of the evening midway through the second period, capitalising on Liam O’Connell’s brief penalty for roughing and scoring a powerplay goal assisted by Ross Sin-Hidge and Simon Jones.

However, Giovanni Raffaelli replied to the Lions’ goal just 43 seconds later and then another Dolphin, this time Joshua, made it 4-1 another 42 seconds later.

Lions did manage to score the only goal of the third period when Sullivan netted through assists from Jordan Ho and Daniel Tamasauskas, but it was not enough to mount a comeback and both sides saw their respective cup campaigns come to a premature end.