CIARAN Long scored a hat-trick as the Basingstoke Bison moved eight points clear at the top of the English Premier League, after a 5-3 victory at the Hive over the Bracknell Bees.
The Herd were minus the suspended Joe Greener due to penalty points, and injured duo Alan Lack and Ryan Watt.
Long scored his first of the night after just 69 seconds, but the Bees buzzed back and levelled 46 seconds later through Josh Smith The home side then took the lead on the only powerplay of the first period, as Ivan Antonov scored and it remained 2-1 at the first buzzer.
Tomas Karpov equalised early in the second session and then Long made it 3-2 at 29:02.
The Bees stung again as former Bison Carl Graham scored with a blue line blast.
However, Herd man of the match Declan Balmer, did exactly the same at the other end in the final minute of the session, as the Bison headed to the dressing room 4-2 up.
The first penalty of the final 20 minutes, put the Bees on the powerplay, but a lovely feed from Karpov allowed Long to complete his hat-trick with a shorthanded strike.
This proved to be the final goal of the game and with the Herd's nearest rivals the Peterborough Phantoms losing for the second night running, the Bison extended their lead at the summit.
Next up for the Herd is a tough game at home on Saturday (6.30pm) against the in-form Telford Tigers, who beat the Phantoms last night.
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