Oxford City Stars kept up their 100 per cent record in the English National Cup with a 4-2 win at Milton Keynes Thunder on Sunday.
Playing without Gary Slevin and Marlon Williams through suspension, and the injured duo of Jamie Thompson and Adam Andrews, Stars gave a debut to new signing Alan Green, while Tom Devey was called up from the under 19s for the first time, as back-up netminder.
However, they suffered a setback when Milton Keynes took a tenth-minute lead through Ross Bowers.
Oxford kept pressing and were rewarded with the equaliser five minutes later when captain Darren Elliott scored a power-play goal from a Derek Flint pass.
In the second period, Oxford got their noses in front through Scott Gough, who knocked the puck home after a goalmouth scramble.
It came seconds after Thunder's Lee Featherstone was penalised for checking from behind.
But a minute later, Thunder were level when a defensive error let in Mark Krater for their equaliser.
Stars came out fired up for the third and after a couple of minutes they went ahead again when a Thunder defenceman deflected Dan Prachar's corner past his own netminder, with Prachar credited with the goal.
Milton Keynes pressed forward for the remainder of the period with Oxford looking to catch them on the break.
And, with two minutes left, Elliott converted a rebound to settle the result and record a second successive win over Thunder.
Oxford scorers: Elliott 2+1, Gough 1+2, Prachar 1+0, Crockett 0+1, Flint 0+1.
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