BASINGSTOKE Bison have re-signed another one of their double-winning stars, with British forward Aaron Connolly putting pen to paper this week.

The gritty 20-year-old forward will return for a second season with the Herd after an excellent debut campaign, which saw him collect 44 points and score 20 goals.

The young star had attracted the attention of some of the top teams in the EPL, but decided to stay with the Bison, much to the delight of Bison player/coach Doug Sheppard.

“I am thrilled he is back as he exactly the sort of player I want at the Bison,” Sheppard said.

“He is a high-energy, physical guy and comes to play every night. He scores some nice goals as well as some gritty ones.”

Connolly is pleased to be back and said: “I had a couple of offers, but I really enjoyed playing in Basingstoke last season as it was a great group of guys led by Doug (Sheppard).

“Last year was the best of my career so far for goals and points and I hope to build on that again.”

The Herd’s squad for the forth-coming season is coming together quite nicely, but next season the English Premier League is set to be nine teams after Slough Jets announced they were quitting the EPL.

The Jets have dropped down to National League South Two and so next year will lock horns with the Basingstoke Buffalo.

Sheppard said: “It is disappointing to lose one of our local rivals, but we will have to make things work with nine teams and it will be a very competitive league again.”

The demise of the Jets will mean the loss of three home games from the schedule, but possible solutions to get these games back include having quarter-final matches in the EPL Cup or a return to a round-robin group of four for the play-offs.