THE Basingstoke Bison lost at their local rivals Bracknell Bees 2-0 thanks to a late empty net goal.

Just 93 seconds into the contest, the Bees were given their first powerplay of the night and Ryan Watt tested former Bracknell goalie Alex Mettam.

The Herd's Richard Bordowski and Ashley Tait then went close on the Herd's first man advantage of the evening.

In the tenth minute, Bison's Alex Sampford had a breakaway chance and his shot came off the face cage of former Herd shot stopper Dean Skinns.

The second period, saw Roman Malinik with the first good chance, but his wrist shot failed to find the net.

The home side then broke the deadlock at 26:39, as Malinik won a face-off draw and Brendan Baird fired home.

The Bees nearly doubled their advantage from Ivan Antonov, but he failed to hit the target from the slot.

With Bracknell's Edward Knaggs in the box, Shaun Thompson went close shorthanded, but Mettam made a great stick save.

The final session started with the Bison on the powerplay and man of the match Adam Jones from the blue line was denied by Skinns.

On another Herd man advantage, both Bordowski and Sampford went close, as the visitors looked for an equaliser.

As the game entered the final minute, former Bison man Joe Baird took an interference and with the visitors pulling their goalie it is gave them a six-on-four advantage.

However, the move back fired as three of last season's Bison treble winners Stuart Mogg, Antonov and Malinik combined with Malinik hitting the empty net at 59:34.

Eight seconds later, tempers boiled over as Bracknell's Josh Martin and Michal Klejna clashed each receiving a roughing minor and a 10 misconduct penalty.

Then with eight seconds left in the contest, Bison's Jones took exception to a hit from James Galazzi and both received 2+2 for fighting and amazingly Jones was given a 2+10 boarding penalty as well

With no further scoring Bracknell man of the match Skinns completed a 23 shot shut-out.

Next for the Bison on Saturday night is a visit from Streatham