CHELMSFORD Chieftains suffered their first defeat of the season when they lost 6-4 at Oxford City Stars but they bounced back to beat Milton Keynes Thunder 5-4 at the Riverside.

Chieftains had a Halloween horror show as they conceded three goals in the opening period at Oxford on Saturday.

Darren Brown reduced the arrears from Matt Turner’s assist but the visitors conceded another to trail 4-1 after the second stanza.

That became 5-1 early in the final period but Chieftains hit back through Cameron Bartlett’s brace. Chelmsford went for broke by replacing netminder Ben Clements with another forward.

It backfired as Stars netted again, although Grant Bartlett reduced the arrears.

Sunday saw Thunder’s new Estonian netminder Villem-Henrik Koitmaa deny the Chieftains time and time again.

Thunder took an early lead and Matt Turner equalised. An injury to influential Lukas Zatopek forced a Chieftains reshuffle that affected the host’s momentum and resulted in scoreless second period.

Danny Hammond scored a powerplay goal but Thunder levelled only for Matt Turner to score with a shot that went in off Nathan Long’s stick and make it 3-2 to Chelmsford.

Sean Barry and Juraj Huska put Chieftains 5-2 up but goals from Josh Nicklin and Ross Bowers set up an nervy finish for the hosts.

Chieftains have two home matches this weekend, facing the London Raiders at 5.40pm on Saturday and then table-topping Streatham Redskins at 6.30pm on Sunday.