THE Basingstoke Bison moved up to fourth in the English Premier League, after a hard fought 4-2 victory over the visiting Bracknell Bees.

The Herd took the lead in the seventh minute as man of the match Derek Roehl robbed Carl Thompson at the blue line and sent a rocket shot past Alex Mettam.

The Bees were level three minutes later as Bison netminder Tomas Hiadlovsky tried to push away Luka Basic’s cross from the left with his stick, but instead the puck hit Scott Spearing and ended up in the net.

In what was an even first 20 minutes against a hard working Bees outfit, the Bison managed to take the lead into the break, thanks to Kurt Reynolds’ first goal of the season.

The defenceman slammed the puck home at the back post, after a shot from Tomas Karpov.

The second period saw the home side take control of the contest and it would have been over by the second break, if not for a superb performance by Bracknell’s man of the match Mettam.

After Roehl hit the bar and Karpov the base of the post, the Herd finally scored a third goal, as Rene Jarolin with a super long bomb pass, sent Roehl clear and he produced a clinical finish.

Bracknell then kept themselves in the contest, as former Bison man Shaun Thompson scored from the right wing.

With captain Aaron Connolly already injured earlier in the game, the Herd looked set to lose another forward, as Karpov was left face down on the ice, after a check to the head from Thompson.

The home fans showed their displeasure about the hit, but the forward survived being dismissed, as he picked up a 2+10 penalty.

The Herd may have then failed to score on the powerplay, but at 45:12 they extended their lead to 4-2 thanks to an excellent solo strike from Davies.

After this there were a string of penalties, as both sides were reduced to three skaters.

Then the powerplays kept coming for the Bees, as once one Bison player returned from the sin bin, another one departed.

During the six minutes of being shorthanded, Joe Miller, who could have ended the game with a hat-trick at least, was denied again by Mettam.

With 46 seconds left in the contest, the Bees pulled their netminder and both Hiadlovsky and Jarolin just failed to hit the empty net.

This evening these sides meet again at the Hive with the game starting at 6pm.