THE Basingstoke Bison moved up to fourth in the English Premier Cup group standings after an excellent home victory over high flying Milton Keynes Lightning.

Herd goalie Tomas Hiadlovsky produced a superb 23 shot shut-out in the 4-0 victory.

The Bison took the lead at 5:46, thanks to a solo strike from Derek Roehl and had the better of the first period, until they ran into penalty trouble.

This allowed MK back into the game and Milan Baranyk cannoned a shot off the crossbar during one of their powerplays.

An early man advantage in the second session, saw Ciaran Long and Dan Davies have chances, before a penalty against the Herd saw Baranyk go close for the visitors.

The home side doubled their advantage on another powerplay, as man of the match Davies directed a Long shot into the top of the net at 34:42.

As the period came to a close, MK produced a great move and Lewis Hook fired just wide.

The visitors opened the final session the better and Leigh Jamieson tested Hiadlovsky as Long sat in the penalty box.

The British forward was then released from the sin bin and chased a long pass down the ice.

MK's goalie Przemyslaw Odrobny came out to clear the puck, but only found Long, who controlled the puck and fired home at 52:10.

With four minutes left, the final powerplay of the evening, saw MK pulled their netminder so they could ice their three import forwards together.

The move backfired as Long was able to release Tomas Karpov and he slotted into the empty net at 57:10 to make sure of the victory.

Next up for the Herd is another big cup game, when they entertain local rivals Guildford on Saturday face-off 6.30pm.