RYAN Watt scored a dramatic penalty shoot out winner as the Basingstoke Bison beat the visiting Hull Pirates 3-2, to go a point clear at the top of the English Premier League.

The home side minus Aaron Connolly and Declan Balmer dominated the game for long periods, against a side who gave debut to their new Finnish import Tommi Laine.

However, it was another Finn, netminder Jon Baston who caught the eye as he turned in a man-of-the-match performance as the Bison out shot the Pirates 50-19.

The opening 20 minutes pasted without incident with Hull’s James Hutchinson going closest during their only powerplay of the period.

The home side were quick out of the blocks in the second session, as Joe Rand skated around the Hull goalie and slotted home at 21:39.

At this point, it looked like the Bison would build up a big lead, but Baston kept them out and a sweet blue line strike from Jonathan Kirk made it 1-1 at the second break.

The final session saw Hull then do the unthinkable and take the lead as Lee Bonner fed Craig Thurston to score at 42:03.

After the is the Bison threw everything at the Hull goalie and finally they managed to get the equaliser on the powerplay from Joe Greener as he scored from close range.

With eight minutes left, the Bison carried dominating the game, but were unable to grab a winner.

So Hull got a deserved point and the game went into overtime. The Herd had the early chances from Greener, Watt and Ciaran Long, before former Bison player Warren Tait and James Hutchinson tested Tomas Hiadlovsky at the death.

With no scoring in the extra five minutes, the game was decided by a shoot-out.

Hull went first and new boy Laine saw his shot go just wide, before Joe Rand netted for an early lead for the home side.

Thurston levelled things up and then Tomas Karpov missed his shot to leave it 1-1 after two shooters.

Mario Mjellini scored to put the pressure on Ciaran Long, as he needed to score to keep his side in the contest and take the shoot-out to sudden death.

Long scored and then both Dominic Osman and Greener failing to hit the target.

The tension grew and three more players Tait, Shaun Thompson and Kirk all failed to beat the netminders.

It was left to shooter number 12, Bison British forward Watt to make sure of the win with a lovely back hand finish.

Tonight(6pm) the Bison are in Bracknell to face their arch rivals and the Bees lost 3-0 at Peterborough last night, but like the Herd are unbeaten at home.