A STRAIGHT final period hat-trick from Jason Silverthorn made sure league leaders the Telford Tigers beat the Basingstoke Bison 4-2.

The Herd came into this contest, having tamed the Tigers in their previous two meetings and it all looked to be going to plan after the first 40 minutes of the contest as they led 2-1.

The home side took the lead on their first powerplay on the night, as captain Aaron Connolly scored at 4:19, as he found a way past former Bison netminder Jon Baston.

Then at the start of the second session, the Herd went close from Dan Davies and Ciaran Long.

Telford’s Doug Clarkson then released Corey McEwen and only a great poke check from Declan Balmer denied him a shooting opportunity.

Soon after, the Bison made it 2-0 as man of the match Long looked to have been held by Rick Plant, but no penalty was given.

This did not stop the Herd forward forcing his way to the puck, he then produced a lovely back hand finish to double the Herd’s advantage.

On Telford’s first powerplay, Rick Plant deflected down a Sam Zajac blue line shot to score. This was after the Tigers had only 11 seconds earlier, had a goal disallowed.

After this, the Bison had the better of the chances, but it remained 2-1 at the second buzzer.

The final 20 minutes saw the Tigers show why they lead the English Premier League.

A reshuffle of their forward lines moving import Lubomir Korhon to partner Doug Clarkson and man of the match Matt Davies certainly helped and the trio piled on the pressure in the opening minutes of the session.

However, it was left to captain Silverthorn to tie the game with a lovely finish at 43:32.

The Tigers continued to roar as they outshot the Bison 20-3 in the final 20 minutes, but it was after a rare Bison attack, that Aaron Connolly was penalised for slashing Baston.

Telford made the most of the man advantage with Silverthorn slotting home at 50:50.

The Bison failed to convert on a powerplay opportunity but the Tigers did, this was somewhat helped by the fact Dan Davies’ stick was forced out of his hand and catapulted down the rink.

The Bison forward headed to the bench for a replacement this allowed Telford to skate into the Bison end zone. With a four-on-two man advantage Silverthorn scored at 54:40.

With 63 seconds, left Tomas Hiadlovsky in the home net was pulled for the extra skater, but the home side were unable to add to their tally.

The result ended a blank weekend following a 2-1 loss at Milton Keynes Lightning the previous night and a disappointed Bison head coach Doug Sheppard said: “It has been a tough weekend and we have nothing to show for it. I felt we played well in both games.”

The Bison have no game this evening, but the Buffalo are at home as they entertain the Bristol Pitbulls (6.30pm face off).