BASINGSTOKE Bison finished 2014 with a narrow 2-1 loss at the hands of the visiting Swindon Wildcats.

The game was as close as the scoreline suggested, as the Herd matched the in-form team of the English Premier League.

They were minus injured British trio Matt Selby, Andy Melachrino and Grant Rounding, while Swindon were at full strength and iced all four of their forward imports.

The Bison got off to a dream start as man-of-the-match Miroslav Vantroba’s low blue line blast hit the back of the net after just 57 seconds.

The first powerplay of the night saw Kurt Reynolds depart for cross checking Henri Sandvik.

With man advantage Aaron Nell saw his shot kicked over the bar by Dean Skinns and then Reynolds stepped out of the sin bin and passed the puck onto Joe Rand who was denied.

Soon after, Tomas Karpov went close as the Bison looked to double their lead.

With a minute left in the session, Nell was sin binned for hooking and the Bison used the powerplay well early in the second period, but Stevie Lyle denied them.

Ciaran Long on the turn saw his shot sticked away and then Karpov also forced a save out of the Swindon goalie.

Bison captain Nicky Chinn departed to the sin bin at 26:23 and a minute later Doug Sheppard joined him.

A penalty call by referee Deana Cuglietta, which went down really well with the home fans, as Sheppard was being punched by Tomasz Malasinski on the ice.

Swindon made the most of the two man advantage, as Nell found Malasinski in space to fire home at 28:22.

A minute later, Bison’s Aaron Connolly broke clear, but Lyle saved his shot.

The referee endeared herself even more to the home fans, as Vantroba was amazingly called for charging after an open ice hit on Jonas Hoog.

Bison captain Chinn’s displeasure at the call saw him earn a 10 minute misconduct penalty.

The final penalty of the period saw Swindon’s Hoog sent to the sin bin for slashing.

Karpov went close with a shot, before disaster struck as man-of-the-match Sandvik scored shorthanded at 39:04.

The Herd started the final session in search of an equaliser and Karpov, Joe Greener and Rand all went close.

Swindon were then given a powerplay, after Michael Wales was sent to the sin bin.

The visitors piled on the pressure and Dean Skinns made a number of good saves.

As the game entered the final three minutes, Sandvik with lovely pass found Hoog just outside the slot, but the Swede was denied by a great save by Skinns, which kept the home side in the game.

With 54.1 seconds left to play, the Bison called a time-out and pulled their goalie for the extra skater.

The home side piled on the pressure, but it was all in vain, as Long’s shot was kicked out in the final seconds as Swindon held on to win the game.

The Bison can avenge the defeat in their next outing on New Year’s Day, which is against Swindon at the Link Centre (face-off 4pm).