Oxford University’s students won the battle of the city’s clubs in Premier Division 1, sneaking a 4-3 victory over Oxford Hawks.

It was a familiar story for Hawks as yet again their slow start surrendered the intiative and the students were deservedly 2-0 up by the interval.

Nobody on the sidelines could have guessed from Hawks’ performance that they were a side in desperate need of points for survival.

Within ten minutes of the restart the students stretched their lead to 3-0 with a short corner strike and the contest seemed over.

However, Hawks suddenly found their form. Tim Martin was the catalyst, playing with commitment and invention.

They reduced the arrears with a Dave Leadbitter penalty conversion followed by a Freddie Coppin strike.

The students scored a fourth, but Hawks responded again when Ed Baldock deflected home a right-wing cross.

The final frantic five minutes saw Hawks rampant and the students in pieces, but Hawks were unable to breach the Blues defence again and failed to convert a short corner in the last minute.

Banbury hit five goals for the second week in a row with a 5-2 triumph at Teddington, the world’s oldest hockey club.

Looking to hold onto their fourth spot in the table, Banbury opened brightly and Dave Clark put them in front from the spot after a clumsy tackle on the lively George Brooker.

Banbury then hit the home side early in the second half with two quick goals, both coming from young Welsh triallist Brooker.

Dan Smyth netted with a precision shot from the top of the D to make it 4-0.

Complacency saw Banbury conceded two poor goals, but Tyson Nunneley cut through the Teddington defence to set up Richard Foreman, who made no mistake for No 5.