THE Basingstoke Bison moved up to fifth in the English Premier League, after a hard fought 3-1 victory over the Hull Pirates.

The home side were quickly out of the blocks as Ciaran Long and Rene Jarolin tested visiting man of the match Jordan Marr, who had an inspired night between the pipes.

The Pirates first shot came after three minutes from Jason Hewitt, in a first period dominated by the home side.

Further chances fell to Vanya Antonov and man of the match Derek Roehl with lovely solo skates, but Marr saved both.

As the period came to a close Bison’s Tomas Hiadlovsky was called into action to deny Jonathan Kirk and Nathem Salem.

The second session continued like the first and the home side had the puck in the net from Roehl early one, but it was disallowed for a high stick, which looked a bit harsh.

Marr then produced a double save to deny Long and Alan Lack, before Hull were given their first powerplay of the game.

Despite being shorthanded, Bison’s Dan Davies and Aaron Connolly both went close.

Soon after, Tomas Karpov skated in on goal and only a great save from Marr denied him.

Straight from this Hull skated down the other end of the rink and Andrej Themar scored with a great finish at 32:33.

Within a minute the home side were level, as Connolly scored from close range.

As the session came to a close, Hull should have made it 2-1 when Marcus Maynard was allowed to skate down the right wing in on goal, but could only find the pad of Hiadlovsky.

This miss proved costly as at 38:50, the home side took the lead as a lovely flowing move between Connolly and Jarolin, saw recent signing Roehl open his Bison account with a lovely wrist shot.

In the opening minute of the final period, Hull had two good chances from Themar and then Lee Bonner.

The home side thought they had scored a third goal at 49:44 from Antonov and it was only after the team had finished their celebrations, that referee Tim Pickett decided the whistle had blown before the puck entered the net.

However, a minute later, there was no denying the Herd a third goal thanks to a blue line bullet from Declan Balmer.

With 2:25 left on the clock, the final penalty of the game saw Roehl depart to the sin bin for tripping Themar.

With just over a minute left, the visitors pulled their goalie which gave them a two man advantage, but they were still unable to score as the Herd ran out 3-1 winners.

Tonight, the Bison have a tough looking away trip, to face a Bracknell team who beat Guildford last night.