Oxford City Stars turned on the stytle to run out 9-0 winners against Haringey Greyhounds at Alexandra Palace in Division 1 South.

Stars, who have already qualified for the end-of-season play-offs, were missing Nick Eden and Mike Lucas.

In contrast, the Greyhounds lacked quality and numbers.

And the situation worsened for the home team three-quarters of the way through the first period when netminder James Tipple was forced to retire from the game with a leg injury.

Roared on by a large band of travelling fans, Stars set the tone when Andy Cox scored within the first minute.

Richard Wojciak, Darren Elliott and Ken Forshee added further goals, before the first period came to a premature end when Tipple sustained his injury.

Alan Green and Elliott extended Oxford’s lead in the second period, with Haringey offering little offensive threat.

Stars’ back-up netminder Tom Devey replaced James Skaife in the final period.

Throughout the game the Oxford lines had been rebalanced by coach Forshee in preparation for the more difficult post-season games.

Shannon Taylor, Cox – completing a brace – and Grant Bailey, who scored with one second left on the clock, netted during the final period to complete the rout.

The game was fairly unev-entful throughout, but the referee still found it necessary to eject Haringey’s Dave Rich-ards and Oxford’s Elliott in two separate incidents during the final period.

Joe Boot picked up Stars’ man-of-the-match award, while Sam Partington, who replaced the injured Tipple in the Haringey net, deservedly took his side’s award, despite conceding five goals.