CITY Motors Fox Blades had a mixed weekend of Millennium Cup action, winning 9-5 at Cardiff Rage and losing 7-4 at Haringey Greyhounds, but their weekend was overshadowed by the loss of coach Richie Howe.

The Sunderland-born former Swindon player and coach came to Oxford earlier this season after spending a couple of years in Hong Kong with his job for an insurance company.

It is his work that will take him away again, this time to Switzerland, after helping Blades get back to winning ways despite their financial problems.

Howe signed off after Sunday's game and director Deborah Pope paid tribute to his efforts, saying: "Richie came in at a difficult time and did an excellent job pulling the team together to give us a solid foundation to work on."

In the short term David Fielder, a qualified level three coach, will combine playing with the coaching role while the management look for an off-ice coach.

Blades gave a debut to new netminder Tom Ayers at Cardiff and the 18-year-old from Nottingham made a good impression in a win led by a Gareth Endicott hat-trick.

At Haringey, Oxford were hampered by poor refereeing and had Robin Davison ejected from the game in the second period. David Stevens led the scoring with two goals.

Story date: Tuesday 23 November

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