BASINGSTOKE Buffalo moved to the top of the National League South West, after an action-packed 2-1 win over visiting Cardiff Devils.

The contest also saw four players dismissed after a mass brawl, just after the second period buzzer.

At the time, the game was locked at 1-1 and with referee Tom Stephenson turning a blind eye to some high hits, it was no surprise the game boiled over.

The outcome was Basingstoke’s Jordan Lawday and Alex Sampford being dismissed for third man in and first Basingstoke player to leave the bench. Cardiff lost Samuel Bryant on a match fighting penalty and Harri Taylor got a game for being the first Cardiff player to leave the bench.

The best call of all came on the 40-minute mark, when Stefan Joseph got 2+2 for roughing despite spending the whole of the altercation in the sin bin as he was already serving another penalty.

The outcome was a three minute powerplay for the Buffalo, two minutes into the final session and Cardiff man-of-the-match Ross Miller did well to stop Matt Lawday and Ryan Sutton scoring with the man advantage.

The home side continued to look for the winner, with Neil Leary and Dan Lackey denied, before man-of-the-match Ben Edwards struck at 50:25 with a close-range shot after good work from Lackey.

The Buffalo nearly scored a third as a lovely passing move involving Greg Martyn and Leary saw a one-time shot from Hallam Wilson padded away.

As the game entered the final two minutes, Cardiff’s hopes looked to have been dashed as Zak Shanahan took a high sticking penalty.

This was nullified with 62 seconds left, as Mark Pitts departed to the sin bin and Cardiff called a time-out.

However, Buffalo defenceman Sam Dollin came closest to scoring in the final minute with a shot in the slot, before a late rally, as home goalie Chris Edwards kept the Devils out to make sure of the victory.

Earlier in the contest, the home side took the lead at 35:10 thanks to a super defence-splitting pass from Dave Collins, which allowed Matt Lawday to skate in and score.

Cardiff hit back and Ellis Price levelled the game two minutes later from close range.

The game boiled over at the buzzer and the Buffalo scored the winner 10 minutes from time as they replaced Cardiff at the top of the league.