Oxford City Stars face an uphill task in the English National League Cup semi-final after going down 6-4 at home to holders Sheffield Scimitars in the first leg.

Stars iced their strongest team for several weeks, and coach Dan Prachar changed tactics to put more emphasis on defence, while playing a counter-attacking game.

Sheffield had much of the play in the first period, but created few clear-cut chances, and Oxford netminder Andy Webster dealt well with these efforts.

The only goal of the period came on a Sheffield powerplay, but it was Oxford that scored.

Prachar won the puck near his own blue line and broke clear down the wing, before cutting inside and forcing the puck past Scimitars netminder Paul Jones.

Early in the second period, good play by Derek Flint and Darren Elliott set up defenceman Paul Crockett to fire a shot high into the net and make it 2-0.

But Scimitars were level two minutes later, with captain John Ross bagging a swift brace.

First, he was set up in front of goal by Les Millie and then he slid a shot past Webster, who was still recovering from saving the initial shot and apparently unsure where the puck had gone.

Sheffield dominated this period, but it wasn't until late on that Scimitars made their dominance count.

Scimitars went ahead when Millie found space in the slot in front of goal and swept home a pass from Stuart Brittle.

Then, in the last minute, the same player made it 4-2 after being set up by James Goodman.

An early goal in the third period from Sheffield's Richard Oliver made Oxford fans fear the worst, and a few minutes later veteran Neil Abel scored their sixth.

But Oxford kept battling and they got their reward late on. Stars' third goal came when Gary Slevin retained the puck with some clever stick-handling near the Sheffield blue line, and then found Marlon Williams with a powerful pass-cum-shot which Williams deflected into the net.

With a minute left, Oxford's player-of-the-match Prachar circled behind the net before flicking the puck back for Elliott to score.

The late two-goal burst kept Stars hopes alive for the second leg at Sheffield on Sunday, with Invicta Dynamos awaiting the winners.

Oxford scorers: D Prachar 1+1, D Elliott 1+1, P Crockett 1+0, M Williams 1+0, G Slevin 0+1, D Flint 0+1.