THE Basingstoke Bison made sure of third spot in the English Premier League, after a feisty 6-4 victory over the visiting Milton Keynes Lightning on Sunday night.

The home side carried on their great scoring form from the previous night in Swindon, as they hit the net four times in the first period.

Man-of-the-match Joe Greener opened the scoring at 4:47 and then Aaron Connolly doubled the advantage two minutes later.

The lead became 3-0 as Connolly scored again and it was at this point MK called a time-out.

The visitor then had a few chances, but then Greener grabbed his second of the period, as he deflected in a blue line shot from Michael Wales.

MK then pulled a goal back from their man-of-the-match Lewis Hook as he netted from close range.

The second session saw no goals but plenty of action as the contest became a lot more physical.

The Bison should have extended their lead after being given 50 seconds of a two man advantage, but Jordan Hedley came up with the saves.

Former Herd man Chris Wiggins endeared himself to the home fans as got involved with Miroslav Vantroba by the Bison goal.

Both players had a dig at each other before it all boiled over and Wiggins received four minutes for roughing and Vantroba a single two for the same offence.

Soon after, Vantroba was taken out with a low hit from Leigh Jamieson which saw Ryan Watt have a few words with the MK player which earned both of them a two minute rest.

Early in the final period MK pulled a goal back from Milan Kostourek and then a minute later a Wiggins hit on Connolly left the Bison player flat out on the ice, which saw Michael Wales drop the gloves and fight Wiggins.

The outcome from this was a MK powerplay as the original hit went unpunished.

Despite being a man down the home side scored thanks to Ciaran Long’s shorthanded strike.

However, the Lightning pulled themselves back into a contest, as Hook scored twice to complete his hat-trick which made it a one goal game with three minutes left.

MK stormed forward, and their star import forward Kostourek went down in the corner and when he realised there was no penalty he tried to pick a fight with the Bison bench.

So he had to be escorted back to the home bench by linesman Andy Cook, but tempers on the MK bench boiled over and Lewis Clifford was sent to the dressing room to calm down.

Soon after, Greener made sure of the home victory as he skated down the right wing and fired past Hedley.

The Herd complete their league campaign with a trip to Milton Keynes on Saturday (7pm), ahead of their play-off quarter-final clash which looks almost certainly to be against the Manchester Phoenix on the last weekend of March.