Stars much-improved in narrow defeat

King’s Lynn were edged out 47-43 after a much-improved performance at Oxford in an eventful Rowe Motor Oil Premiership clash last night.The PSH Environmental Stars put their problems of the last week behind them to take the Spires to a last heat decider, with captain Tobiasz Musielak giving an outstanding display.In that race, Rohan Tungate and Scott Nicholls secured a 3-3 to give their side the victory but the Stars could have been in a stronger position but for the disqualification of Niels-Kristian Iversen when he clashed with Charles Wright in Heat 12.Musielak scored paid-16 for the Stars, dropping just two points from six outings, whilst Iversen and Michael Palm Toft both put race wins on the board and Ben Cook did a sterling job as guest replacement for the injured Benjamin Basso.Manager Rob Lyon said: “It was a better performance from us after the last outing at Sheffield last week – we were depleted then and we were depleted tonight, but Ben Cook did an admirable job for us and it was a better performance. “It’s a little bit frustrating that we lost out. I didn’t feel we deserved to lose tonight, I thought we should probably have edged it, and what the referee was looking at in Heat 12 I have no idea.“He has his right to his opinion on what he saw, I asked him to look at the monitor and whether he looked at it I don’t know, but he put the white light on so quickly that he clearly hadn’t looked at that point. “We often say refereeing decisions can turn a match, and it clearly did that tonight.“Apart from that I was really pleased with the team as a whole, and we move on from here. It was a battling team performance and I can’t fault the boys in that respect. “Tobi has settled in now, he’s getting dialled in and his last two performances have been more like what we would expect and he would expect of himself as a No.1, so no issues there at all.”With a more encouraging display behind them, the Stars will be looking for a much-needed victory when they host Birmingham at the Adrian Flux Arena next Thursday (May 2). Oxford 47: Rohan Tungate 13+1, Scott Nicholls 10+1, Erik Riss 7, Maciej Janowski 5+2, Chris Harris 5, Charles Wright 4, Ashton Boughen 3.King’s Lynn 43: Tobiasz Musielak 15+1, Ben Cook 9+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 7+1, Patryk Wojdylo 6+1, Michael Palm Toft 5+1, Anders Rowe 1, Vadim Tarasenko r/r.