THE efforts of the Gillingham-based Invicta Dynamos ice hockey team to save their English National Premier League status have failed.

The club has confirmed that they were unable to tie up a deal before the English National Premier League fixtures meeting in Nottingham on Sunday and instead will play their hockey in English National League (South) - the division in which the Invicta Mustangs played last season.

The club have been searching diligently for new funds since the club's main sponsors Kelly Carton announced that they were not renewing their deal after running into financial problems.

This left a shortfall of £125,000 but director Jackie Mason is looking to the future. She said: “We're still talking to four companies about sponsorship but we will be playing in ED1 next season.

“We had to take a decision by the weekend and we had hoped to get some sponsorship sorted out but we ran out of time before the fixtures meeting so we have decided to drop down.

“We're all bitterly disappointed but we're not prepared to put a team in the ENPL that won't be competitive and we couldn't sustain financially.

“This is the best thing for the stability of the club and next year will be a rebuilding year and we hope to secure a major sponsor so we can go back up next season.”

Mrs Mason added that she hoped the club could keep some of the players and said she would be speaking to the Mustangs' players and management about plans for next season.