THE Basingstoke Bison treated a packed home rink to their best win of the season so far, as they came back from 2-0 down to beat the league leaders the Peterborough Phantoms 4-3.

In a very tight contest from start to finish, the Herd had the better chances in the opening 20 minutes, but it ended 0-0.

The second session seemed to be going the same way, until it was snapped open with two goals in the space of 36 seconds from Peterborough.

Nathan Salem slotted home the first from the right side of the goal and then man of the match Ales Padelek’s shot came off netminder Dean Skinns, looping up in the air and the Peterborough man forced the puck over the line.

This left the home side with a mountain to climb and they certainly came out all guns blazing in the final session.

The period was just 26 seconds in, when they were given a powerplay and not for the first time this season a super Dan Scott screamer hit the net.

Roared on by their home fans, just four minutes later the Bison were level as Grant Rounding netted at the back post from a lovely pass from Ryan Sutton.

It all looked to be going to plan, until referee Stephen Matthews took over centre stage and sent the superb Kurt Reynolds to the sin bin for a non-existent tripping call.

Peterborough made the most of their gift, as Owen Griffiths scored with a lovely top corner strike to make it 3-2 at 46:33.

Soon after, Bison’s Roman Malinik was tripped by Padelek, but despite the screams from the Herd fans no penalty was awarded.

The Phantoms then nearly added a fourth as Leigh Jamieson released James White, but Skinns came up with a super glove save to deny the Peterborough man.

The Bison went on the attack and this time Tomas Karpov was sent flying and much to the annoyance of the home fans there was no penalty again.

However, the Herd never gave up and Josh Smith battled away at close range to force the puck home for the equaliser at 53:07 from a Karpov pass.

Both sides were now going for the winner and to the delight of the home fans it was their side which scored it.

The move started deep in the Herd end, as Joe Baird robbed Padelek of the puck and in the process left him on his backside.

Baird’s pass out of the zone was chased down by Dan Davies and Karpov, who worked the puck free around the boards. Karpov was then able to cross to the back post for man of the match Davies to score. This was greeted with a cheer which took the roof off the building.

Peterborough pulled their goalie in the final 18 seconds of the game but were unable to force a draw.

After the game, head coach Doug Sheppard said: “That has to be our best win of the season, to come back as we did. It was a great character win.”

This evening, the Bison travel to the Invicta Dynamos knowing a win will put them back in top spot.