THE Basingstoke Bison extended their lead at the top of the English Premier League to nine points after they beat the visiting Telford Tigers 3-1.

The Herd line-up saw the return of Ryan Watt from injury, but the home side were still minus fellow British forward Alan Lack (injured) and Joe Greener (suspended).

The Bison got off to a great start, in front of another big crowd of nearly 1,300, as their captain Aaron Connolly sponsored by the Gazette, opened the scoring in the fourth minute.

A nice pass out by goalie Tomas Hiadlovsky was picked up by Ciaran Long, who in turn fed man of the match Connolly, who hammered the puck home.

The Bison doubled their advantage at 8:26, on their second powerplay of the night.

This was after a blue line bullet from Declan Balmer was touched home by Connolly.

The Tigers had their own chances in the opening 20 minutes, with Max Birbraer, their most lively forward.

The second session saw Telford start the period well, with the Bison’s Hiadlovsky called into action to make a number of good saves.

A string of penalties then followed which included two minutes of a four on three advantage, where the Bison were so unlucky not to add a third goal.

Miroslav Vantroba and Connolly both saw efforts go just wide of the post.

Telford’s Tom Murdy then produced a great save to deny Long as he looked set to score at the back post.

The home goalie, also did just as well, to stop Dan Davies’ shot when set-up by former Bison Joe Miller.

The final 20 minutes, started with the home dominating and Daniel Lackey forced Murdy into smart save after a nice set-up from Tomas Karpov.

The Bison added their third goal on the powerplay, Ryan Watt was denied with the first shot, but Rene Jarolin made no mistake with the rebound at 51:31.

A minute later, Telford opened their account as Davies tapped home after Hiadlovsky had denied Blahoslav Novak with an excellent pad save.

Soon after, the Tigers so nearly grabbed a second, but Hiadlovsky produced a smart stop from a close range shot from Miller. With 2:06 left on the clock Telford pulled their goalie for the extra skater and Long just missed the empty net.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the rink, Novak started punching Bison’s Joe Baird , which saw him sent to the sin bin for roughing. Leaving his team shorthand this ended any chance of Telford winning the game.

The latest Herd success left them nine points clear of both Peterborough and Guildford, with their title rivals both having two games in hand.

Next up for the Herd is a home game on Saturday against the Hull Pirates, who beat Swindon after a penalty shoot-out last night.