THE Basingstoke Bison’s hopes of making the semi-finals of the EPL Cup look to be over, as they were beaten 2-0 at the Milton Keynes Lightning in their final group game on Friday night.

The Herd now have to hope the Peterborough Phantoms lose at home to the Bracknell Bees on Sunday, otherwise they are out of the competition.

In a very close hard fought contest, the first goal did not arrive until early in the second period when Lightning’s leading scorer Frankie Bakrlik netted.

The advantage was then doubled before the second break, as Lewis Hook scored on the powerplay.

The Bison who out shot the home side 46-27 were unable to beat Przemyslaw Odrobny.

This was despite having two five minutes powerplays, the first was against Bobby Chamberlain dismissed for high sticks on Jan Jarabek and other saw Tom Carlon depart for checking to the head on Declan Balmer.

The penalty count was swelled even further on the final buzzer, as Bakrlik and Derek Roehl received fighting match penalties.

The Bison are in action again tonight (6.30pm) against the Telford Tigers.