Raiders defeated Lightning 3-2 on Saturday before hitting four goals in just over two minutes to win 5-4 from being 4-1 down at Rom Valley Way on Sunday. Lightning have now endured the worst league run in their history – losing their last seven games on the trot.

The results left fans not only deeply disappointed but scratching their heads as to why Lightning's season has collapsed in the past few weeks.

What is puzzling many is that the same personnel looked like championship winners when they twice went on eight game winning runs early in the season.

On Saturday Lightning were again clearly lacking in confidence and showed nervousness even when they were twice ahead at Planet Ice.

They often allowed Romford to dictate the pace of the game with Lightning showing little of the speed with which they can overwhelm opponents. As a result the transition from defence to offensive play suffered, allowing Raiders to get men back in numbers and thus making it difficult to breakthrough.

On too many occasions the shots from distance were weak affairs while those from close range lacked the quality to beat goalie Mark Lee.

Gary Clarke put Lightning ahead on one of the few occasions he was able to break clear, taking Toni Alasaarela's pass from the left to dummy the netminder before firing in on 10mins 12secs.

Shortly after Lightning goalie Barry Hollyhead was called in action to make a fine save from Erik Bochna. He then he had to be on top form to make a double block from first Andrius Kaminskas and then, at full stretch, from Danny Hammond.

Bochna was called for cross checking from behind with just under a minute of the period remaining.

But instead of Lightning pressing with the extra man it was Romford who scored short-handed as Kaminskas won the puck in the neutral zone and fired a top shelf shot past Hollyhead.

Lightning regain the advantage on the second of two penalty calls on Mikko Skinnari when Nick Poole broke up the left and set up Matt Towalski for a shot which just crossed the line before the Lightning man crashed into Lee at 32mins 31secs.

The hosts needed another goal early in the third session to boost morale but they were dealt a blow when Kaminskas' determination saw him him score at 43mins 58secs.

A further powerplay for Lightning, with Andrej Sporina in the sin bin, came and went with Lightning failing to put enough pressure on the goal.

And it proved costly as Bochna broke away to shoot to the left of Hollyhead for the winner at 53mins 24secs.

Lightning withdrew Hollyhead for the extra skater in the final minute but there looked to be little urgency in their play.

On Sunday Poole set up Skinnari to give Lightning a fine start at Romford with a powerplay goal.

And it was Skinnari who doubled the lead at 15mins 8secs with a further powerplay effort – this time Clarke was the provider.

By that stage Raiders' Andrew Sharp – who has a reputation for being more interested in fighting than playing ice hockey – had already been despatched to the dressing room on a match penalty for his tussle with Michael Wales.

Kaminskas got Raiders back in the game within 27 seconds of the restart but Lightning remained in command when Adam Carr was the supplier for Poole to add the visitors' third goal on 32mins 13secs – Lightning outshooting the hosts in both first and second periods.

Victory looked almost assured when a further powerplay strike, this time from Alasaarela, set up by Ales Parez, put Lightning 4-1 in front at 47mins 53secs.

Then came the spectacular collapse as referee Dave Goodwin called a series of penalties on Lightning which saw them reduced to three men in the final five minutes.

First Norman Pinnington netted at 55mins 4secs with Bochna registering at 55mins 59secs.

Just 21 seconds later the tallies were level thanks to Raiders' captain Danny Marshall's strike.

The final nail in the coffin came on 57mins 7secs as Bochna claimed his second to make it 5-4 – a breathtaking finish but not one that the Lightning fans wanted to see.