What a topsy-turvy competition the English Premier League is turning out to be this year.

In yet another weekend of shock results Milton Keynes Lightning lost out by the odd goal to the second from bottom placed Wightlink Raiders on Saturday only to recover in style to beat the league leaders Guildford Flames on the road on Sunday.

Meanwhile only one team picked up maximum points – Slough Jets who were themselves held at 1-1 by lowly Wightlink until the third period.

Raiders' visit to Planet Ice produced one of the strangest games ever seen at the rink. The short-benched islanders came with one intention – defend at all costs and only attack as a last resort.

It was hardly entertaining but it produced the result for them as Lightning were forced to take pot shots at the visitors' goal in much the same way as punters were undoubtedly throwing balls at the coconut shy at the funfair just up the road in the city centre.

It did not make pretty viewing with the shots either having to be made from long range or from so close to the goalie he was able to smother the puck or, failing that, any one of the five 'defenders' was able to get in the way.

That Wightlink's winning goal came from a speculative Bradley Watchorn shot taken from his own half of the ice just about summed up Lightning's luck, the puck taking an awkward bounce as it went into the corner of the net.

There were a total of 90 shots on goal during the match – the fact that 72 of them came from the home side showed how much Lightning dominated possession.

The islanders' other two goals both came on the powerplay and were totally against the run of play. The first strike came on 10mins 57secs from Juraj Rusic while Grant McPherson was serving time for slashing – the Slovak unmarked at the right pipe.

The hosts levelled the tallies on a powerplay resulting from Alan Green's hooking penalty with Lukas Zatopek unleashing a blueline rocket shot which hit both the left and right pipes before nestling in the back of the net at 19mins 46secs.

There were no goals in the second period as :Lightning outshot Wightlink 18-3 but still couldn't get through and one started to sense it was not to be the home side's night.

Lightning desperately need to get the next goal as the third period started but instead it was Wightlink who got the goal through Shawn Mole at 44mins 15secs on the powerplay.

And then Watchorn added to Wightlink's total – probably much to his team's shock – before Chris McEwen went on a mazy excursion to fire past Mike Brabon at 53mins 52secs to make it 3-2.

Lightning withdrew goalie Barry Hollyhead for the extra skater with 1min 3secs remaining but they could not get the equaliser.

The next day day against a more adventurous Guildford side Lightning stormed into a 4-0 lead before a late rally by Flames.

Ales Parez set up Michael Wales for the first goal after just 4mins 27secs – a score which was to remain until after the halfway mark.
Zatopek was the provider when Gary Clarke doubled the advantage at 31mins 19secs before Clarke then turned provider for Andre Smulter to give Lightning an incredible 3-0 advantage at 39mins 39secs.

Just 1min 28secs into the third Parez made it 4-0 thanks to a Matt Towalski set up.

Then came a mini Flames revival with Vinny Zavoral getting the home side off the mark on 42mins 9secs and Taras Foremsky making it 4-2 at 54mins 26secs.

But Flames were kept at bay from then on and Zavoral's frustration boiled over in the final two minutes as he set about Hollyhead – resulting in a match penalty for misconduct.