Oxford City Stars suffered a brace of defeats on the opening weekend of the English National League South Division 1 season – despite having an incredible 99 shots on goal.

A 9-7 reverse at Invicta Dynamos on Saturday was followed by a 7-3 loss to Cardiff Devils at Oxford Ice Rink 24 hours later.

But despite this, Stars racked up almost a century of shots.

Down in Gillingham, Oxford made a slow start, letting in Andy Smith to score the first of his four goals after just two minutes.

But, after catching their breath, it was a far more assured performance from Stars, who benefited by only taking two minor penalties to Invicta’s eight.

Darren Elliott equalised after nine minutes, and three minutes later the player-coach combined with James Pentecost to put Oxford in front.

Callum Fowler replied as the first period ended 2-2, and Invicta struck twice inside a minute following the resumption with Steven Osman and Smith on target.

However, 45 seconds later, Mike Whillock smashed home a goal on the powerplay to make it 4-3.

Dynamos looked the more threatening, though, and Adam McNicoll restored the Kent side’s two-goal cushion at the interval.

Stars were caught napping at the start of the third period, with Juraj Huska scoring after nine seconds, before Smith made it 7-3.

Elliott called a timeout, and it paid dividends as an extended spell of pressure by Oxford ended with Invicta’s Greg Chambers kicking the puck into the back of his own net.

Smith restored the four-goal advantage a minute later.

Dynamos replaced Chris Douglas in goal with Steve Nightingale, and his first task was to pick the puck out of the net after a superb strike from Jamie Newton.

Danny Terry hit Invicta’s ninth goal with two and a half minutes left, but there was still time for Stars to reduce the deficit through Jacob Smith and Nick Oliver.

Stars had outshot the Dynamos 52-37, giving them plenty of encouragement for the following day’s home opener with Cardiff.

Oxford got off to the perfect start when Jacob Smith converted Pentecost’s pass from close range.

But Jonathan Nash levelled, and less than a minute later, Owen Bradshaw gave Devils the lead.

Romanian international Zsolt Mastaleriu marked his home debut with a cracking equaliser from Jake Florey’s pass.

However, Stars were rocked by Cardiff scoring twice in a minute through Alex Madge and Giacomo Raffaelli.

Oxford fell further behind in the second period when Nash notched his second, but Pentecost kept their hopes alive with a wonderful individual effort.

Stars came out strongly in the third period, but were caught on the break with Josh Haslam’s goal effectively settling the match, before Zak Shanahan sealed their fate.

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