Greg Chambers makes triumphant return to Basingstoke Bison (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Greg Chambers makes triumphant return to Basingstoke Bison

1:00pm Tuesday 18th September 2012 in Sport By Graham Merry

BASINGSTOKE Bison ’s Canadian import Greg Chambers capped a superb performance by scoring twice and creating another as the Herd opened their English Premier League campaign with a 4-1 victory over local rivals the Bracknell Bees.

The forward was in great form as he hit the net with two strikes, the first to open the scoring and the last to kill off the contest in the final period.

In between, fellow Canadian Joe Rand hammered home a shot and then a well rehearsed move saw Greg Owen win a face-off and Chambers lay on an inch perfect pass for defenceman Alex Symonds to ghost in unmarked and score. The Bees only goal came from their impressive young British forward Alan Lack, who like Chambers ended the night as his side’s the man-of-the-match.

Bison Player/coach Doug Sheppard returned to the line-up having missed the road game in Guildford last Sunday and was a happy man as his side got their season off to the perfect start.

The Herd boss said: “We wanted to start with a victory and we got one, which is great. “We have a lot of new faces on this team and I am happy with the way things are going.

“This team will only get better as we gel as a unit.” The results means the Bees, who included last year Bison players Ollie Bronnimann, Sam Oakford and Marcel Petran, have now lost 10 straight league games in Basingstoke.

See The Monday Gazette for a full report from Saturday's game.