Oxford City Stars have underachieved, says Gary Dent

Stars have only won 12 of their 33 games so far this season

Oxford City Stars boss Gary Dent has admitted his side have underperformed in Division One South this season.

Stars won 22 of their 36 matches last year to finish fifth in the table but have only won 12 games out of 33 so far this season and lie in sixth place.

"It's disappointing, we're battling for fifth when we should be aiming higher than that," Dent told BBC Oxford.

"We should be closer to the top guys and we were hoping to be mixing it up with them this year."

The Stars boss added: "We started well but we've fallen behind, we ran into a problem area at the end of last year where our rink was shut and several guys were out with injuries and we've struggled to come back from that.

"That's not an excuse because we've had plenty of time to get back on form but we really should have been playing better and been tougher against stronger teams."

The Stars are on the same amount of points as Cardiff Devils and Streatham Redskins, and Dent says his squad will have to work hard to keep up with the pack.

"There's only a few weeks until the play-offs and we're not going to suddenly turn things around and improve," he said.

"We're aiming to be in top form for the business end of the season, so we're have to get in the right frame of mind and work towards the play-offs.

"We beat Streatham 6-3 on Sunday and we're playing them again at home this weekend. So it's obviously in our hands to gain the advantage over them and get another win."