Player-coach Darren Elliott felt having a home-bred line-up proved pivotal in Oxford City Stars’ English National League South Division 2 title triumph.

Elliott pointed to recruiting players from the city – when the club relaunched itself this season after folding in January 2012 – as being key to their success.

“It was a great result for us to win the league,” he said. “We have done really well.

“Just before Christmas we seemed to hit the nail on the head and things started to progress.

“We struggled with a few injuries at the start of the year, but then we just romped home.

“It was just a good team feeling with Oxford-born and bred players playing for each other.

“It is our home town. We are good friends and we have grown up playing hockey together.

“It makes it a lot more special.”

Looking to the future, Elliott hopes Stars will be in the same division next term.

“Primarily we would like to stay in the league we are in,” he said.

“We don’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot and jump into a higher division.

“None of us are paid, and if we went up we would come up against teams that are paying players. We play for fun and our home town.”