THE Basingstoke Bison closed the gap on the English Premier League leading teams after another excellent victory over second placed Milton Keynes Lightning.

The home side was minus Joe Baird, while the visitors gave a debut to new Finnish import Antti Holli.

In an even first period Bison’s man of the match Vanya Antonov went closest in the first 10 minutes, with a shot which hit the outside of the post.

The Bison took the lead at 14:32, as good work from Derek Roehl and Dan Davies saw Ciaran Long’s lovely wrist shot hit the roof of the net.

Soon after, top MK import Frankie Bakrlik made his third visit to the sin bin during the session and once again took a Bison player with him. As the period came to a close, the Herd’s Tomas Hiadlovsky produced an excellent double stop to deny Holli and Adam Carr.

The Lightning levelled things in the second session which they had the better of, as the Bison conceded their first powerplay goal in seven games.

Milan Baranyk tipping home Jordan Cownie’s blue line shot at 27:18.

The visitors were then given a great chance to take the lead when Ciaran Long was harshly given a 2+2+10 penalty for attempted butt ending.

Cownie and James Griffin both tested Hiadlovsky on the powerplay. Tomas Karpov broke away and only good work from Holli denied him a shooting chance.

With the score at 1-1 it set up a thrilling third period, which saw the home side have the better of it as the intensity of hitting increased.

They re-took the lead just 95 seconds later, as Karpov was denied twice by Przemyslaw Odrobny, but Shaun Thompson hammered home the rebound.

After a good Bison powerplay, the Lightning hit back and Hiadlovsky produced a superb catch from a left wing bullet from Bobby Chamberlain.

Two quick powerplays for the home side again saw plenty of pressure with Rene Jarolin and Declan Balmer having shots saved.

Then with five minutes left, an awful call by referee Roman Szucs on Kurt Reynolds saw the Bison blue liner depart for 2+10 for checking to the head .

This left the home side with just three defencemen for the rest of the game.

The Bison killed this penalty, but then saw their back division reduced to two as Jan Jarabek was rightfully called for a delay of game penalty after his clearance went over the plexi glass.

This set-up a tense finale, as MK put their British goalie Jordan Hedley in net, so they could ice three import skaters as they looked for the equaliser.

However, it was former MK man Jarolin who was to score, as he was released by a lovely pass from Declan Balmer and he produced a brilliant breakaway finish to seal the victory.

After the game Bison head coach Doug Sheppard said: “I am very pleased with the win tonight. We played well as a team and I felt we deserved the victory.”

Tonight (6pm), the Herd are in action at league leaders the Telford Tigers.