English National League

OXFORD City Stars got their Division 2 South campaign back on track with a 3-1 win over Romford Fury thanks to goals from Nick Oliver (2) and Darren Elliott.

It was a hard-earned success against a physical Romford side and although the game was clean for the most part, it was marred by three fights at end of the match.

Romford had an early effort disallowed before hitting penalty trouble, with Matt Brown and Rob Jenner both punished.

This gave Stars 65 seconds with a two-man advantage. Romford survived both penalties.

A spell of pressure from Stars ended with Elliott breaking away and, despite two saves, he was able to hammer the puck away to open the scoring at the end of the first period.

Romford equalised via Matt Brown with a shot over Ricky Young, but the lead lasted for only 90 seconds as Oliver launched a powerful shot after a great Elliott pass to re-establish Stars’ lead.

Stars survived a two-minute penalty at the start of the third period and the game became far more defensive, with neither side wanting to make a mistake.

With time running out, Fury had to push more and more and this opened the door for Oliver to complete his brace.

After that, Romford got involved in penalty trouble as Sam Roberts was ejected for spearing and then got involved in a fight with Andy Cox.

That was followed by two separate fights, firstly between Oxford’s Marlon Williams and Christopher Laws, then Stu Widdows and Romford’s Mel Bidder.

The win elevates Stars to sixth in the table.