THE Basingstoke Bison moved up to third in the English Premier League, after a highly entertaining 5-3 win over the visiting Sheffield Steeldogs.

It was the Herd’s seventh straight win and after cruising into a 2-0 lead, they were made to work for their victory by a full strength Sheffield side.

The Bison took just three minutes to open their account as man of the match Tomas Karpov, roofed the puck into the net from a Matt Towalski pass.

Just a minute later, the home side were given their first powerplay of the night after Arnoldas Bosas cross checked Ciaran Long.

The Bison made the most of their man advantage with Long scoring after a goal mouth scramble at 4:21.

The Steeldogs hauled themselves back into the contest, after their player/coach Greg Wood robbed Derek Roehl of the puck.

He skated away and with a lovely slide rule pass Liam Charnock scored.

The home side replied with a third as Bison star man on the night Karpov, fired the puck at the net and Daniel Lackey was able to deflect it home for his first goal of the season.

Once more the visitors narrowed the lead as great work from Bosas saw him lay the puck back to Liam Kirk to score.

The Steeldogs then so very nearly levelled things just before the break, but man of the match Pavel Mrna was denied one-on-one by Bison shot stopper Tomas Hiadlovsky.

The home side had the better of the early exchanges in the second period and Kurt Reynolds saw his shot hit the post.

The Herd’s Rene Jarolin then forced a save out of James Hadfield, before moments later Sheffield equalised with a slick breakaway goal scored by Mrna at 31:13.

The home side then survived a Steeldogs’ powerplay before they retook the lead at 37:10.

This was thanks to a superb blue line bullet from defenceman Jan Jarabek – which opened his Bison account.

The final session saw the game get a lot more feisty as things nearly boiled over a couple of times, especially when Wood and Declan Balmer took a disliking to each other.

With the score at 4-3, both sides searched for the next goal and it was the Herd who scored it.

That man Karpov struck again with a shot through traffic with five minutes left.

After the game, Bison head coach Doug Sheppard said: “It was a win, but I don’t think we played well tonight except for Tomas (Karpov). I hope we can do better tomorrow.”

Tonight, the Herd travel to local rivals the Guildford Flames, who will be smarting after losing 7-6 at Swindon last night.