Oxford Hawks fought out a 2-2 draw with Maidstone at Banbury Road North in a Premier Division 1 game which would have gone either way.

Hawks played rather better than in their last two league outings and in newcomer Nick Ferraby had the game's stand-out player.

They were wasteful in front of goal, missing more than one straightforward opportunity and the quality of their finishing remains an ongoing problem.

The Oxford outfit took the lead through Paul Hayes but then sat back and allowed Maidstone into the game.

A ferocious reverse stick strike put the visitors on terms and then the umpiring went into meltdown.

A further Hawks goal was ruled out because the umpire had prematurely blown for a short corner.

Ferraby was given a yellow card for a stick tackle and with Hawks down to ten men Maidstone were awarded a penalty stroke for an infringement in the circle which only the umpire appeared to see.

With Maidstone converting the stroke, an undeserved defeat for Hawks looked on the cards.

However, Ferraby's return sparked a Hawks revival and with four minutes left, Hawks scored their second when Ed Baldock, in a rare foray into the circle, converted a left-wing cross.

Oxford University moved into third place with a 2-1 victory at Richmond.

Banbury suffered their first defeat since October when they lost 4-3 at home to Gore Court, a result that sees them slip to fourth in Premier Division 2.

Adrian Simons cut inside a defender and unleashed an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net to give Banbury a sixth-minute lead, and Dave Clark deflected in Richard Foreman's pass, after a goalkeeping error, to double the home side's lead.

But Gore Court hit back with two goals before half-time.

Foreman slid in at the near post to make it 3-2 to Banbury, but Paul Sturridge touched home a short corner, and after Simons was handed a yellow card for an off-the-ball incident, Sturridge grabbed his second of the game to win it for Gore Court.

Rover Oxford went down 6-5 at home to Trojans after leading 4-2.

Mark Carpenter smashed home in the opening minutes. Trojans quickly responded, but Rover regained the lead after a nice finish from Toby Langdon.

The Southampton team again levelled, but Rover had the last word of the half due to Dan Smyth's rocket.

Following Langdon's second of the game, all looked rosy. But in the last 15 minutes Rover threw it all away.

Trojans clawed back to 4-4, but Smyth soon notched his 16th of the season to restore their one-goal advantage.

A clean challenge from Rover's Richard Dodds was adjudged by the umpire to be worth a penalty stroke, which Trojans converted, and for Rover that was the last straw.