THREE unanswered second period goals saw the Basingstoke Bison miss out on a trip to the Play-off finals as they lost 8-7 to the Manchester Phoenix on aggregate.

The Herd had a one goal advantage from the first leg in Altrincham going into this game.

However, this was soon cancelled out as Bobby Chamberlain scored in the eighth minute of Sunday’s contest.

The Bison then dominated the rest of the first period and a goal mouth scramble saw the Herd awarded a penalty shot, after the puck was illegally covered in the goal crease.

This was taken by Ciaran Long, but he was unable to beat Fone at 11:11.

A minute later the home side did equalise as Tomas Karpov netted a Kurt Reynolds rebound.

It then got even better for the Herd as Joe Greener scored from close range which gave them a 2-1 lead on the night and 7-5 advantage on aggregate.

The second period saw the home side throw everything at the Phoenix early on and somehow bodies and saves from Stephen Fone kept them out.

Then a long pass up the ice from Robin Kovar found his fellow import Frankie Bakrlik and he produced a lethal finish.

The home side continued to push forward and Ryan Watt hit the post, while Long and Greener combined and only a smart save denied Doug Sheppard.

Once again Manchester against the run of play scored again as former Bison forward Jacob Corson-Heron slotted home with a nice wrist shot, which gave Manchester the lead and tied the game on aggregate.

Soon after the Herd, lost Grant Rounding as he was helped off the ice following a mid ice hit and then Aaron Connolly took a shot to his leg.

Connolly returned, but Rounding did not and then the Phoenix grabbed the go ahead goal in the tie overall as Kovar scored from close range at 38:15 on the powerplay.

Before the Herd can hit back a collision between Declan Balmer and Frankie Bakrlik saw both of them end up on the ice.

Bakrlik stayed down and so even if he did not call a penalty at the moment of hit, referee Tim Pickett decided to dismiss Balmer and hand Manchester a five minute powerplay 21.2 seconds before the second buzzer.

Now with the lead, Manchester played a more defensive style and only had one real shot during their long powerplay.

The Bison were then given a couple of powerplays and in the second one really put the pressure on the Manchester net, but Fone kept them out.

With the tension building all the time and with just 1:17 left in the contest Adam Walker departed to the sin bin.

The Bison call a time-out a pulled their goalie which gave them a six against four skater advantage.

Fone again was called into action and made a couple more saves as the Phoenix held on for a memorable win.

Manchester will now face the Milton Keynes in the second semi-final in Coventry on Saturday, after they knocked-out league runners-up the Guildford Flames.

The final semi-final will see league champions Telford Tigers take on the Peterborough Phantoms.