Oxford City Stars were brought crashing down to earth after a 7-1 defeat at Romford in South Division 1 of the English National League.

Stars had gone into the match on the back of some good recent performances, but were well-beaten in an often ill-tempered clash in Essex.

Stars started well, and took the lead during a five on three advantage as captain Darren Elliott opened the scoring with an assist from Gareth Endicott.

Juraj Huska, who Stars coach Ken Forshee had singled out as Romford’s key player, did not disappoint for the hosts as he scored their first two goals and was involved in another three.

Romford extended their lead to 7-1, with Anthony Leone (2), AJ Smith, JJ Pitchley and Danny Marshall on target.

Lithuanian import Andrius Kaminskas punched Stars’ Martin Lee in the head from behind to see him ejected for the rest of the game.

But despite that, Stars could not find the net again.

Forshee said afterwards: “I thought we played to the game plan for the first two periods, but we had a bad third session.

“Credit to Romford, they worked hard and have a well-balanced team. We need to learn from their work ethic and how they took the game to us.”