THE Basingstoke Bison hopes of making the final four in the English Premier Cup were dented, as they lost 5-1 at local rivals the Guildford Flames.
The loss saw the Herd slip down to sixth in the cup group table with six games to play.
Ben Campbell was the Guildford star as he had a hand in all five goals and it was his forward line along with Matic Krajl and Jens Eriksson that did all the damage.
The first period saw no goals, with the Herd having the upper hand, thanks despite killing three Guildford powerplays.
The second session saw the home side suffer penalty trouble and Ciaran Long and Derek Roehl both tested Joonas Kuusela.
The deadlock was finally broken at 35:41, as Eriksson opened their account and before the Bison could replied, Campbell netted a rebound to make it 2-0.
Campbell scored his second of the night at 42:20 and three minutes later Eriksson extended the lead to four goals.
Within a minute, the Herd opened their account thanks to a lovely strike from defenceman Jan Jarabek.
They were then given a great chance to close the gap further, as both Danny Meyers and Tom Duggan went to the sin bin.
However, the Flames killed off the two man advantage and added a fifth goal as Krajl scored from Campbell.
This weekend, the Bison have a massive weekend of cup action with a trip to Swindon on Saturday (5.45pm), followed by a home game against Milton Keynes on Sunday (5.30pm).
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