Oxford Hawks' challenging trip to high-flying Chichester in South League Premier Division 1 ended in a 5-1 defeat.

But for much of the game Hawks matched the home side in all departments except, crucially, finishing.

Hawks were without their influential foreign students Sebastian van den Berg and Christophe Reculez, but started brightly against the athletic and well organised Sussex side.

Chichester took the lead with a penalty corner drag flick but Hawks should have equalised with sharper finishing as they caught Chichester with quick breaks.

Territorially, the first half was fairly even, but Chichester grabbed a second goal, latching onto a defensive error, and reached half-time two up, a scoreline which did scant justice to Hawks' display.

Hawks then went into meltdown at the beginning of the second half and conceded three goals in ten minutes when Chichester showed their class with some high-quality finishes from a short corner and open play.

Hawks picked up a consolation goal with an Andy Brown penalty stroke.

Oxford University climbed to fifth as they beat Ashford 1-0.

Rover Oxford's two-game winning streak in Premier Division 2 ended with an 8-3 defeat at Winchester.

Rover scored first after Toby Langdon's aerial pass found James Nielson, who scored with a cool finish.

Winchester got back into the game through a well-worked short corner routine.

The half ended disastrously for Rover, who went into the break 4-1 down.

The second half saw much of the same and Rover finished well beaten. Their other goals came from Dan Smyth and Richard Beer from the penalty spot.

City of Oxford continue to shoot up the MBB&O Division 1 table, with coach Alex Pizz maintaining his impressive scoring streak.

Pizz got four as City overwhelmed bottom club Bicester 6-2.

City started poorly and struggled to retain possession at the start, with Bicester going in front from a short corner.

Gradually, the home side improved and Martin Hanscombe equalised.

Still level at the break, City then took the lead from John Butt's drag flick at a short corner.

City dominated once they started giving Pizz the ball inside or outside the D, and he rattled home four goals to bring his side their fourth win on the trot.

Abingdon slumped to a 7-4 home defeat against Leighton Buzzard, despite a hat-trick from striker Will Trigg, who returned to the side after a two-match absence.

Buzzard were two up after ten minutes but Abingdon fought back strongly and two goals in the space of five minutes from Trigg saw them pull level.

But the visitors then ran away with it, scoring five times. Andrew Ringsell pulled one back for Abingdon, before Trigg bagged his hat-trick.