OXFORD City Stars promotion hopes ended with back-to-back defeats to Streatham (3-0) and Haringey (6-2).

Stars were confident after beating league champions Invicta Dynamos, but these two losses mean they cannot finish top of their division.

Oxford started well against Streatham, but fell behind to a powerplay goal from Robert Blazowski, who steamed through the centre before unleashing a thunderbolt into the top corner.

Just before the end of the period, the officials failed to spot some dangerous play, and Craig Metcalf capitalised with a slapshot that went through a crowd of players.

Stars gained more control in the second period, but suffered a blow when Jacob Smith was sent off following a dubious high-sticking call.

The third period was tight yet again, although Streatham began to play the kind of hockey that got them second place in the league standings.

Oxford netminder James Skaife had to be on his guard constantly as the Oxford defence repelled wave after wave of attack.

Stars pulled Skaife in the final minute, but some sloppy play saw Andy Clements slot home the puck into an empty net.

Oxford travelled to in-form Haringey Greyhounds without Alan Green, Aidy Haigh, Luke Plasted and Easy Chalmers.

It was the Greyhounds who were out of the traps first as they took the lead after only a minute when Ricky Rutherford cut inside and fired a snapshot into the top corner.

Four minutes later, Greyhounds doubled their lead when Scott Cannam cycled well inside the zone before beating Skaife with a well taken effort.

With seven minutes gone, a clumsy hit from behind on Lukas Szabo by Greyhounds' Nick Burton went unpunished by the referee.

Shortly afterwards, goal machine Cannam picked up the puck in his own end to spilt the Stars defence and score a superb short-handed effort.

Dean Francis finally beat Haringey netminder David Wride with a superb powerplay goal, following up a shot from Darren Elliott.

If the second period was a non-event, the third period exploded in to life virtually straight away.

Unsurprisingly it was Cannam who struck the killer blow, marking his hat-trick with yet another excellent solo effort.

Stars felt hard done by when their penalty seemed to last longer than Haringey's despite both players being given the same time off the ice.

Oxford did not give up and when Darren Elliott made it 4-2 with a rare powerplay effort, it did look like a comeback was on the cards.

More penalties further stretched Oxford's resources before Burton made it 5-2 Stars were struggling to keep five men on the ice, and Rob Johnston made it 6-2 with only a few minutes left.