SIMON Anderson says lessons will be learnt after Oxford City Stars lost against Bracknell Hornets.

The home side won the first two periods and went into the third 5-3 up.

But Stars then shipped five unanswered goals to suffer a 8-5 reverse.

Their head coach said his side must learn from the South Division 1 defeat and admitted he will accept the blame for the reverse.

In a candid interview, Anderson said: “I’m disappointed with the result and third period performance.

“We were the much better team in the first two periods.

“But we stopped playing our systems and it cost us the game.”

He added: “I take full responsibility for the loss, in terms of game management and it will not happen again.

“There were things I should have done and didn’t because I felt the boys would right it, especially after conceding two early goals in the third.

“I felt the referee wanted to be the star of the show and totally frustrated both teams with some of the things going on.

“I allowed that to affect my judgement at times."

Bracknell opened the scoring, but Jake Williams responded quickly to level.

Tom Ravenscroft and Matt Lawday added to the Stars tally, before a mix up in defence gifted Bracknell another goal.

Import Ryan Widmar scored less than a minute into the second to make it 4-2.

But following a flare-up, Oxford saw four players in the penalty box and Bracknell capitalised with a powerplay goal.

Josh Oliver maintained the two-goal advantage with a great strike.

But Stars collapsed in the third period.

Bracknell scored five times without reply, including one into an open net after Oxford pulled the netminder as they chased the game.

Stars did put the puck in the net twice in the third, but both were denied as the goal was judged to have moved.

Anderson said his squad must learn from the defeat and is looking for a reaction in training this week before their games at unbeaten Solent on Saturday and at home to Chelmsford Chieftains the following day.

He added: “The players need to take some responsibility as well and learn how to close games out consistently.

“We’ll work on our game in training.

“I don’t go along with the ‘we are new to the league and still learning’ tag.

“It’s all about belief and I know they can do it.

“We have a tough weekend ahead and we will hopefully put a 60-minute performance in for both games.”