Oxford City Stars staged a tremendous fightback to win 4-3 at Milton Keynes Thunder in the English National League South Division at Oxford Ice Rink.

Trailing 3-0 in the third period, Stars scored four powerplay goals in the space of three minutes to snatch an unlikely victory.

With Thunder having players in the sin bin, Dave Carr, standing in as captain for the suspended Darren Elliott, sparked the comeback by scoring in the 46th minute assisted by Easy Chalmers and Dean Francis.

Oxford struck again within 39 seconds through Dean Francis with new signing Ben Moody providing the assist.

Stars were on a roll, and 32 seconds later they equalised with another powerplay goal, scored this time by Alan Green, assisted by Nick Oliver.

Milton Keynes incurred another penalty, and Oxford took advantage with Green grabbing the winner assisted by under 19 players David Gregory and Joe Oliver.

The first period had seen Oxford incur penalties totalling 12 minutes.

With two players in the sin bin, Stars fell behind in the sixth minute when former Oxford player Mark Krater netted assisted by Dan Ramsden.

Stars rained in 17 shots on the Thunder goal in the second period, but stand-in netminder Kim Taylor kept a clean sheet.

Oxford were again picking up more penalties and Milton Keynes took advantage to score another powerplay goal from Lee Featherstone.

As tempers flared, two players from each team were sent off for two minutes each for roughing around Thunder's goalmouth.

The second period ended with Oxford 2-0 down, and they fell further behind in the 45th minute when Carl Stevenson netted, assisted by Josh White and Featherstone.

But then came that magnificent fightback.

Stars coach Darryl Morvan said: "Tonight was without doubt one of the best comebacks I have seen in a long time.

"I'm sure that there were a lot of people, including Milton Keynes, who thought that we were beaten.

"But this team has a tremendous spirit, and as a lot of people may discover this year to their detriment, they don't know when to lie down and die.

"If we can carry on with that team spirit and work ethic I would hazard that we will be very pleased with our season come February."