THE BASINGSTOKE Bison returned to winning ways last Saturday as they beat the top of the table Telford Tigers 5-2, writes Graham Merry.

It was the Bison who struck first as man of the match Aidan Doughty scored on the powerplay. They then doubled their advantage thanks to a great solo strike from Alex Roberts.

The Tigers kept themselves in the contest thanks to Vladimir Luka which made it 2-1 at the first buzzer.

The Herd extended their lead at 30:48 as Roberts scored at the back post after great work from Zack Milton and with 52 seconds left in the middle period, Adam Jones fired home to make it 4-1.

With five minutes left in the contest, Telford netted their second goal from man of the match Jack Hopkins.

However, when the Tigers pulled their netminder in the final minute, the Herd made the most of it as Doughty hit the empty net.

On Sunday night in Leeds, Doughty again scored the opening goal after just 47 seconds and an unassisted strike from Adam Harding made it 2-0. Archie Hazeldine pulled one back for the Knights to make it 2-1 at the first buzzer.

The second session saw the sides trade goals as Milton scored first for the Bison and then Kieran Brown reply for Leeds.

Doughty with his second of the game and fourth of the weekend doubled the Herd’s lead, only for the Knights man of the match Sam Zajac to pull a goal back.

After this Leeds piled on the pressure looking for an equaliser, but were unable to beat the Bison’s man of the match Alex Mettam, as the Herd held on to win 4-3.

Last Saturday in Oxford, the under-14s made it eight wins out of eight with an 11-2 victory. Ethan Wiltshire led the way with a hat-trick, Thomas Benson scored twice and there were single goals from Finlay Spearing, Daniel Bird, Jacob Young, Freddie Wilkinson, Owen Robinson and Austin Day.

Also in Oxford, the under-12s won 8-0 as Avery Barnes grabbed a hat-trick, Hugo Skins a brace, while Jacob Young, Chase Atkinson and Reggie Howe all netted once.

Meanwhile in Swindon, the under-18 Bison lost 5-2 with Xander Robinson and Oliver Hemming-Maher both on target.