THE Basingstoke Bison clinched third spot in the English Premier League with a great come from behind victory against the Swindon Wildcats on home ice on Sunday night.

Things did not look to be going to plan after 20 minutes, as Max Birbraer had fired the visitors into a 2-0 lead.

His first goal came after Robin Kovar rebound fell to him and he fired through a crowd of players.

His second strike was more fortunate, as he was gifted the puck by a poor clearance by Bison goalie Tomas Hiadlovsky, and was able to slot into the empty net.

The second session saw the Bison dominate for the whole 20 minutes, but thanks to superb netminding performance from man of the match Stevie Lyle and the defence in front of him, Swindon still led at the second break.

The Herd finally found a way past their former shot stopper, as Aaron Connolly netted from close range, following good work from Joe Rand.

Swindon managed just two shots in the session, but one of these saw an excellent save from Hiadlovsky, to deny Jonas Hoog a breakaway chance.

The final period, saw the Bison continue to pressure and great work by man of the match Tomas Karpov saw him set-up Rand to score at 44:22.

The home side then took the lead on the powerplay, after Olly Stone was penalised for tripping Grant Rounding.

Ciaran Long was the man to score, ending a lovely passing move involving Karpov and Dan Davies.

Now trailing the visitors started to have some chances, but only an superb stop from Lyle denied Joe Miller.

With 90 seconds left in the contest, Swindon pulled their goalie, but the move back fired, as Long was able to feed Roehl and he fired into the empty net to seal the win.

After six straight wins the Bison are in good form ahead of the play-offs which start on Wednesday night (7.30pm) with a home game against the Hull Pirates, followed by a trip to Milton Keynes on Saturday, before Swindon are the visitors on Sunday.