Oxford City Stars were unable to take maximum points from their double-header in English National League South Division 1 at the weekend.

They followed a rare 5-4 win at Wightlink Raiders with a 3-1 home defeat to Milton Keynes Thunder.

Stars had not won at Whitelink in six years, but brought that run to a halt in style after a blistering start.

The match was only 65 second old when Alan Green opened the scoring for the visitors.

Ondrej Pekarik latched onto a Josh Florey pass to double the advantage.

And when Raiders’ Danny Rose was penalised for slashing, Stars made the most of the power play, adding a third through Ben Ealey-Newman.

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Wightlink reduced the deficit with a long-range effort from Danny Ingoldsby, but the three-goal cushion was restored early in the second period.

With Corey Watkins and Ben Paynter serving penalties, Green grabbed his second.

Raiders again pulled one back through Nick Compton after Stars’ Boris Ruzicka and Tom Avery had been sin-binned, but they were denied further goals by netminder Tom Annetts.

Joe Edwards made it 5-2 in the final period, but Oxford faced a nervy ending as Jeremy Cornish and Jaroslav Cesky struck in quick succession.

Despite heavy pressure from the hosts, Stars held on.

They could not follow that up next day, however, losing the inaugural John Cartwright Trophy match at home to Milton Keynes Thunder.

James Clarke struck against his former side to put Thunder in front at the end of the first period and they doubled their tally early in the second through Nathan Long.

Stars did not take advantage of their powerplays before Alex Whyte scored a third.

Andy Cox finally pulled one back for Stars three minutes from time,.