THE Basingstoke Bison lost their only game last weekend, as they were beaten 4-2 by the visiting Sheffield Steeldogs, writes Graham Merry.

After a scoreless first 20 minutes, it was the visitors who opened the scoring thanks to Brady Doxey at 28:04.

Sheffield doubled their advantage despite being shorthanded as man of the match Lee Bonner was able to fire home to make it 2-0 at the second break.

The Bison hauled themselves back into the contest as great work from Paul Petts set-up man of the match Hallam Wilson to score.

The Steeldogs restored their two goal advantage from leading goal scorer Jason Hewitt from a lovely pass from Matt Bissonnette.

The home side hit back again at 55:51 as Ashley Tait deflected home a Brendan Baird shot.

As the game came to a close, the Bison pulled their netminder, but the move backfired as Bissonnette hit the empty net.

The Sheffield loss leaves the Herd seventh in the table, three points behind the Peterborough Phantoms having played one more game. Also three points clear of local rivals the Bees, but the Berkshire side have a game in hand on the Bison.

Elsewhere in the club, the under-16 Bison won in Peterborough 5-3 as Leilo Bellamy returned 2+3 and Oliver Hemming-Maher grabbed a hat-trick.

The under-18 Bison had a mixed weekend, winning in Peterborough 3-1 thanks to goals from Roman Cathcart, Marcus Bradley and Hemming-Maher.

However, they then lost 7-4 at home to Slough with Cathcart, Bradley, Hemming-Maher again on target as was Xander Robinson.

The Buffalo had a tough trip to Streatham and ended up losing 10-1, as James Eldridge scored their only goal.