MICHAL Klejna scored three penalty shots to make sure the Basingstoke Bison finished 2018 with an excellent victory at title rivals the Peterborough Phantoms.

The home side took the lead in the contest from Ales Padelek and then the sides swapped goals in the space of 23 seconds as man of the match George Norcliffe levelled thing up, only for Peterborough's Corey McEwen to make it 2-1.

The only other goal of the contest was netted by Klejna at 31:15, assisted by Tom Ralph and Norcliffe.

With no further scoring the game even in overtime the game was decided by a shoot-out.

The home side went first with Martin Susters missing and Klejna scoring. Padelek levelled things up and shots from Bison pair Ashley Tait and Adam Harding were saved as was Petr Stepanek's effort.

At this point the shoot-out when to sudden death with the Herd now going first Klejna scored again and Glenn Billing replied.

With the pressure mounting, Klejna stepped up again and found the net for third time

So Padelek needed to score to keep the shoot-out alive, but he was unable to beat Alex Mettam for a second time.

After the game Bison player/coach Tait said: "This was our best road performance so far, it was not pretty, but a gritty win as we were on the front foot from the start winning loose pucks."

The win moved the Herd to third and they will look to keep the pressure on the leaders this weekend, when they face Invicta at home on Saturday (6.30pm) and then travel to Streatham 24 hours later for a game which has a 6.45pm start time.

The Bison are still waiting on the league to see if Liam Morris remains suspended.

Tait said: "Invicta is a team we need to stamp our authority on, but so far this season we have found it hard to play against them. We have enjoyed success already at Streatham this season so I hope we can do it again."