THE Basingstoke Bison were unable to complete a Christmas double over the Swindon Wildcats as they lost the second game of the series 3-1 at the Link Centre.

The Herd were minus forwards Joe Rand and Joe Miller for the contest and after an even opening, the Wildcats took the lead on the powerplay, after the Bison fell foul of a too many men call.

It was Swindon big guns who did the damage as Jonas Hoog's shot was deflected by Tomasz Malasinski, leaving Tomas Hiadlovsky in the Bison net no chance.

Soon after, the first bout of roughing for the evening saw Kyle Smith and the Herd's Kurt Reynolds departed to the sin bin.

The Bison had their chances with Long hitting the post before the end of the first period, but it remained 1-0.

An early Herd powerplay in the second session, saw former Basingstoke netminder Stevie Lyle at his best to deny Long again and then Tomas Karpov.

Joe Baird then also went close for the visitors as Lyle somehow kept his shot out.

Swindon then doubled their advantage at 26:26 thanks to a fine solo effort as Polish import Malasinski struck again.

Then by the end of the session, the physical game had boiled over again, as Swindon's Smith his time fought Declan Balmer, which earned both four minutes for roughing.

The Bison were given a great chance early in the final period to get themselves back into the game, as Max Birbraer got two minutes for high sticks and then Swindon player/coach Aaron Nell behind the bench, earned his side another two minutes for comments to the referee.

However, the Herd were unable to make it count, but with five minutes left and with another two man advantage, this time Long found the back of the net at 56:45.

This set up a frantic finish, as the Bison hunted an equaliser, but with two minutes left they conceded another penalty as Matt Towalski departed for high sticks.

Despite being a man down, the Herd pulled their goalie, but it was that man Malasinski with a tap in that completed the scoring 58 seconds from time.

This loss ended a three game winning streak for the Bison and their next game is away to the Guildford Flames on New Year's Day (4pm).