THE Basingstoke Bison extended their home winning streak to eight games as they came from behind to beat the visiting Sheffield Steeldogs 3-2.

It was a great victory considering the Herd were without forwards Tomas Karpov, Aaron Connolly, Grant Rounding along with defencemen Matt Selby and Brendan Baird.

The home side dominated the early exchanges and Bison’s man-of-the-match Michael Wales pinged the post.

Then on the first powerplay of the night, Lee Haywood netted after a goal mouth scramble which gave the Steeldogs the lead at 8:35.

The advantage was then doubled by Lubomir Korhon as he able to skate out in front of the goal and pick his spot.

The Bison then thought they have scored, but the net had once again moved off its moorings and these antics by netminder Dalibor Sedlar tarnished his man-of-the-match performance.

On this occasion after much protesting the goalie was given a delay of game penalty.

Then in the first attack on the powerplay, Joe Rand was checked to head by Haywood which earned him a 12 minutes rest in the sin bin.

The Herd make the most of a two man advantage as Andy Melachrino scored with nice wrist shot at 14:54.

The Bison continued to dominate the rest of the period, but the visitors still led 2-1 at the first buzzer.

Tension between the teams continued to simmer and often after the play was blown dead there was a push and shove between the players.

The second session like the first saw the home side pile on the pressure, but they were still unable to find a way past Sedlar.

This set up a tense final period and the Bison got off to a dream start as Doug Sheppard tied the game at 41:31 with a nice strike from the slot.

The first penalty of session then proved costly for the visitors as the Herd scored on the powerplay thanks to a left wing shot from Ciaran Long at 47:09.

Referee Tim Pickett then endeared himself to the home fans as Joe Rand departed for interference, which was amazing considering Sheffield bad boy Andre Payette could have been called for this penalty on every shift he had in the game.

During the Sheffield powerplay Ben Morgan’s rasping blue line shot was gloved over by Dean Skinns and then Long tried to score shorthanded with a shot fired between his legs.

Sheffield then had their best spell of the game as their player/coach Payette had benched himself.

With 72 seconds left in the game the Steeldogs pulled their goalie for an extra skater and in the dying seconds it looked like Haywood would tie the game, but Skinns produced a great save to make sure his side enjoyed the victory.

The Bison have not game tonight, but Herd man Stuart Mogg is expected to play for Buffalo this evening when they face the Cardiff Devils (face-off 6.30pm).

The Herd’s next game is on Saturday when they are at home to the Guildford Flames.