BASINGSTOKE Buffalo netminder Craig Agass was dismissed in Oxford as the visitors lost 9-5 to the City Stars last Sunday.

The goalie was flattened in the middle of the game by one of the home forwards, took exception to it and picked up a five plus game for his troubles, as did Dax Hedges who ran the netminder.

Chris Edwards took over in goal, but the visitors could not stop the Stars’ promotion push as they built on a 3-0 first period to take the victory.

The Buffalo’s first goal came at 21:34 as man-of-the-match Matt Lawday scored from Greg Martyn and Chris Beauclerk.

Just 13 seconds later, Oxford scored their fourth, but the visitors replied with a shorthanded strike from Lawday after he converted a pass from Kurt Tyrrell.

The teams continued to swap goals, with Ryan Sutton finishing a nice move involving Lawday and Mark Pitts as the score moved to 6-4 by the second buzzer, by which time Agass had been sent to the dressing room.

The home side extended their lead to three goals, before Martyn scored, assisted by Lawday and Pitts – but the Stars scored twice more to complete the victory.

The team now have a weekend off before returning to action in Slough – their next home game is against Peterborough on Sunday February 10 (face-off 6.30pm).

Last Sunday, the under-16 and under-18 games against Bracknell were both postponed.

The under-16s will hope to continues their title push when Oxford are in town on Sunday February 3 (face-off 4.40pm).