Oxford City Stars suffered a double reverse in English National League South Division 1 with a 5-2 defeat at Milton Keynes Thunders followed by a 5-1 loss away to Romford Raiders.

Although the scorelines were similar, the performances were not.

Milton Keynes played with a tempo and conviction that Stars were unable to keep pace with, while at Romford, Oxford worked hard throughout.

Oxford lined up at Milton Keynes on Saturday with Gareth Endicott and Andrew Shurmer, replaced by Joe Edwards, Dax Hedges and Robin Lindva.

Thunder opened the scoring through Maros Stefanco in the first period, but Hedges got Stars back on level terms.

Thunder kept the pressure up in the second period and eased into a 4-1 lead, before Mike Whillock squeezed the puck past Mark Woolfe.

Ross Bowers completed his hat-trick in the final period to crown victory, with Aram Todd also on target for Raiders.

Oxford fielded the same starting line-up against Romford on Sunday.

The first period was end to end as Stars played with a level of commitment that was missing the previous evening.

Oxford fashioned some good chances and were unlucky not to score as Michael Gray made 29 saves.

They also rattled the puck off the goal frame a number of times. When they ran into early penalty trouble, they defended their goal well and were unlucky to concede a powerplay goal to Joe Allen in the 14th minute.

Worse for Oxford was the fact that Alan Green was injured during the play, ruling him out of the rest of the game.

Almost halfway through, Juraj Huska scored the first of his hat-trick.

In the final period, the effects of playing two games on consecutive evenings started to take its toll on Oxford, despite the efforts of Stars’ man-of-the- match Wayne Fiddes, and Raiders took advantage.

JJ McGrath increased the hosts’ lead, before Huska scored twice to complete his hat-trick.

Before the final Romford goal, Joe Edwards deservedly roofed the puck past Romford netminder and man-of-the-match Michael Gray.

COLIN Mortimer and Nick Oliver bagged braces as Oxford City Stars 2nd crushed Bristol Pitbulls 6-1 in South Division 2.

Joe Boot and Sam Broughton completed Oxford’s tally, with Paul Davies replying for the visitors.