ALEX Mettam recorded his first ever Basingstoke Bison shut-out, as the Herd beat the Milton Keynes Thunder 5-0.

The summer signing from Bracknell turned away all 14 shots he faced in the contest, as the Herd moved up to fourth in the South One table.

The Bison were minus defenceman Chris Cooke and netminder Dan Weller-Evans, so Aaron Burton was the back-up goalie.

In an even opening few minutes, the visitors certainly tested Mettam, as he saved from Michael Stratford and Ross Green.

The Bison then opened the scoring at 7:06 thanks to some Morris magic.

A lovely rush down the right wing from Liam Morris, saw him cut in across the face of the goal and score.

MK tried to hit back and Mettam had to be alert when Thunder’s man of the match Ross Bowers broke through centre ice.

The first powerplay of the night, saw the Bison double their tally thanks to a crisp top corner strike from man of the match Adam Jones, which was his first ever Bison goal.

The home side then added a third goal thanks to a lovely passing move between Russ Cowley and Richard Bordowski, with the latter scoring.

With the Bison on their second powerplay of the night and with 48 seconds left in the period, tempers boiled over.

Morris was slashed a couple of times by Tomas Rubes and then cross checked in the face, which led to the Bison man taking exception and this sparked the first fight of the evening.

MK’s Grant McPherson joined the action and somehow escaped being dismissed for third man in.

After the first bout had finished, a second one involving Bison’s George Norcliffe and Ross Green saw them trade blows.

All four players were sent to the sin bin, both Bison players received four minutes for fighting and Morris was given an additional two minutes for incitement.

The MK pair of Green and Rubes also got four minutes each for fighting, with Rubes dismissed on a five plus game penalty for a check to the head.

So, the Bison continued on the powerplay, but now it was four-on-three and Jones with another lovely blue line strike made it 4-0.

The second session saw the home side dominate as they out shot the visitors 11-1.

Jay King had three early chances in the period, but Jordan Lawday saved the lot.

Danny Ingoldsby went close on the back hand and then with the Herd shorthanded a stray pass from MK’s Greg Randall found Bison’s Hallam Wilson all alone in the slot.

However, he was unable to beat his former Basingstoke Buffalo team mate, as he pulled off a super reflex save.

During the powerplay, the Thunder had their lone shot on target for the period from Green, which went straight into the stomach of Mettam.

After this Elliott Dewey and Ingoldsby were both denied, Bowers tried to push Paul Petts over the barrier and into the home bench. This was after the MK player took exception to Petts charging him. This earned both players a two-minute rest.

A monster hit on Cowley by Trevor LeBlanc again saw a stoppage in play.

Alex Sampford and Hallden Barnes-Garner paired off earning both of them a seat in the sin bin, while LeBlanc was also penalised.

The final period proved to be more of an even affair after LeBlanc and Straford tested Mettam, the best move of the session saw some tic-tac-toe passing from Klejna, Ashley Tait and Morris, but unfortunately Morris was denied.

MK’s Bowers then rattled a shot off the face cage of Mettam’s helmet.

With nine minutes left, the Bison called a time out to re-group and from then on except during a late powerplay they were in control of the contest.

They added their fifth and final goal 48.9 seconds from the end of the contest, as Bordowski and Cowley combined for Alex Sampford to net at the back post.

After the game Bison player/coach Tait said: “I was happy with the two points and it was great to see Mettsy (Alex Mettam) get a shut-out.

“It was not one of our best performances and hence why we called a time out in the third, so we could refocus.”

The Herd have no game this evening, they are next in action on Saturday, when Invicta are the visitors to the Basingstoke Arena.