THE Basingstoke Bison extended their lead at the top of the English Premier League to three points, after they won their top of the table clash with the Peterborough Phantoms 3-0.

Joe Rand helped himself to a brace of goals, while man of the match Jon Baston recorded his fourth Bison shut out of the season.

The home side welcomed back from injury British forward Alan Lack and Canadian Rand returned in place of the injured Tomas Karpov which meant Doug Sheppard was able to return to his place behind the bench.

The home side dominated the early part of the game thanks to a couple of powerplays.

In the second one Ciaran Long fired just wide from the blue line, before Ryan Watt and Joe Rand both went close.

Watt then had another chance, but Janis Auzlins who was by far the busiest goalie in the opening 20 minutes made the stop.

Bison’s Baston was then called into action to deny Phantoms hot-shot Milan Baranyk.

The Herd then took the lead at 14 minutes exactly after Lack was able to dig the puck out of the corner and found the unmarked Rand to score.

Soon after Lack was again the provider for Joe Greener, but on this occasion Auzins came up with the save.

However, it was not long before the home side made it 2-0 as forward Rene Jarolin found Watt and his shot flew into the roof of the Peterborough goal.

The same Bison British forward nearly scored again before the first buzzer, as the Herd were good value for their 2-0 lead.

After the break, Ales Padelek tested Baston and then Peterborough were given their only powerlay of the night, but the home defence stood firm to keep the visitors out.

Slovak’s Jarolin and Miroslav Vantroba combined, but the defenceman saw his wrist shot saved.

Later in the period, the Bison were given a powerplay, but it was Peterborough who so nearly scored as Baranyk released Darius Pliskauskas, but the Phantoms forward fired wide.

As the session came to a close, Phantoms man of the match Craig Scott was denied by Baston and the Bison went straight up the other end of the rink, where Jarolin found Aaron Connolly, but he shot wide.

The first penalty of the third period, again saw the visitors nearly score shorthanded as this time Edgars Bebris tested Baston.

Exactly five minutes into the session, the Bison made it 3-0 as Joe Rand netted after good work from Joe Greener and Alan Lack.

The same forward combined again shortly after, but this time Greener’s shot was saved.

Both sides continued to look for goals during the final 20 minutes and Scott found Padelek, but once again shut-out man Baston saved.

The goalie finished the night having saved all 25 shots he faced from one of the top offensive units in the EPL.

The victory was sweet revenge for the Bison, as Peterborough won on their last visit to Basingstoke and they are the only team this season to have beaten the Bison on home ice.

Tonight, the sides meet again this time in Cambridgeshire for another crunch clash.