CAPTAIN fantastic Aaron Connolly scored his second hat-trick of the season, as the Basingstoke Bison beat the Bracknell Bees 8-4, to move two points clear at the top of South One.

However, the opening goal of the contest came with Connolly in the sin bin, as Josh Martin netted for Bracknell on the powerplay at 8:03.

A minute later, the Herd were level as Dan Davies, who like Connolly ended the night with five points scored the equaliser.

Defenceman Kurt Reynolds then scored the Bison's second for a 2-1 advantage at the first break.

The visitors took just 32 seconds to increase their lead in the second session as Davies netted his second of the night.

Connolly then scored his first on the night on the powerplay to make it 4-1.

Bracknell's man of the match Luke Jackson pulled a goal back, but Connolly second in the middle period restored the three goal advantage.

At this point, the Bees swapped their netminders with Danny Milton being replaced by Alex Mettam.

Matt Foord then pulled a goal back for the home side, but Bison man of the match Connolly completed his hat-trick to make it 7-3.

With only nine seconds left in the period, Bracknell's Frankie Bakrlik was dismissed for a check to the head on Grant Rounding.

The final period saw Bracknell net a fourth goal from Martin, before goals from Tomas Karpov and Stuart Mogg completed the victory.

The Bison are next in action on Friday night, when the Swindon Wildcats are visitors in the first leg of the Autumn Cup.