Oxford City Stars went down 9-7 at Bracknell Hornets in the second leg of their English National League play-off quarter-final to go out 17-10 on aggregate.

Having been thrashed 8-3 in the first leg, Oxford were really playing for pride, particularly as Hornets had not conceded more than five goals in any previous match.

Stars started with a bang, however, with Joe Edwards scoring two powerplay goals following penalties against Alex Barker and netminder Adam Marashi.

Barker made up for his earlier indiscretion by pulling one back in the sixth minute.

Then with Stars brothers Richie and Mike Hargreaves in the penalty box, Ben Duggan levelled for Bracknell.

Hornets took the lead through Duggan on 12 minutes, and Craig Tribe beat four Stars players to set up James Galazzi for No 4.

It was 4-3 at the break after Richie Hargreaves beat Marashi with Hornets’ Ross McDougall in the sin-bin.

Bracknell came out fired up, with Tribe and Dan Davies setting up Duggan’s hat-trick.

Barely a minute after the restart, Stars had made it 5-4 as Andrew Shurmer was allowed time and space to pick his spot.

Stars seemed to grow in confidence and tied the game with Richie Hargreaves’ second of the night.

Back came Hornets, with Davies and Duggan creating a sixth goal, scored by Dom Hopkins.

The crazy offensive game continued in the third period, and Stars once again levelled through veteran Alan Armour in the 44th minute.

Richie Hargreaves’ hat-trick soon followed, but Hornets made it 7-7 when Chris Wiggins turned in Galazzi’s shot.

The sin-binning of Stars’ Will Skaife saw Hornets take full advantage of their extra man. Grant Rounding netted on the rebound after Oxford netminder James Skaife had saved Galazzi’s shot.

Rounding set up Michael Plenty for Hornets’ final goal to cap a bizarre evening.