OXFORD City Stars stalwart Mike Whillock has played his final game for the club.

The influential forward is moving to Sweden with family, bringing to an end an impressive career at Oxpens.

Whillock played almost 200 games for Stars, scoring 154 points, over the course of 13 seasons.

He did not get the winning send-off his time at the club deserved, as Dean Birrell’s side fell to a 3-0 home defeat to Bristol Pitbulls.

The visitors took the lead in the first period through Richie Hargreaves, who benefitted from a fortuitous rebound to fire past Ross Miller.

Stars threatened in spells during the middle 20 minutes, but still trailed by one point when the whistle blew.

Bailey Finn Hind-Pitcher killed the game halfway through the final period, before Loris Taylor sealed victory for Pitbulls.

Whillock received the farewell he deserved despite the result as his teammates formed a guard of honour after the final whistle, while he was given his away shirt signed by the Stars squad and fan Beth McGill.

It continued a disappointing weekend for Stars on the ice, coming 24 hours after a 5-3 defeat at Solent Devils.

Birrell’s men have already beaten the south coast side once this season and made an excellent start, Josh Oliver converting from an Alex Staples assist.

It got better when Aidan McGurk made it 2-0 and Stars looked well-placed, even when Solent halved the deficit 18 seconds before the end of the first period.

Joe Edwards restored the two-goal advantage soon after the restart, but the home side stunned their opponents to haul themselves level.

Two goals in the space of 27 seconds made it 3-3, although Stars did at least recover to reach the next break with no further damage.

The momentum was with the hosts and they went ahead for the first time early in the final period, before firing into an empty net late on as the visitors poured forward in search of an equaliser.

Stars remain seventh in NIHL Division One South, but they will not be able to bounce back this weekend.

Their next game is away at Chelmsford Chieftains on Saturday, November 6.