RUSS Cowley scored an overtime winner to make sure the Basingstoke Bison beat the visiting Streatham Redhawks 4-3 on Saturday night.

The home side had the better of the opening 20 minutes, but not for the first time this season they found themselves behind at the first break.

This after Streatham took the lead in the contest at 18:51 from Rupert Quiney.

The Bison levelled things soon after the interval, thanks to a nice strike from George Norcliffe.

After this there were few clear-cut chances, until the Herd took the lead at 31:16 as Ashley Tait back handed the puck under Damien King in the visitor’s goal.

The Bison then ran into penalty trouble as Jay Kay departed for roughing and he was then joined by Richard Bordowski, who picked up two minutes for delay of the game after his clearance went over the plexi.

The Redhawks took 33 seconds to make full use of the two-man advantage, as they moved the puck around the Bison end zone and eventually worked an opening for Alex Roberts to fire into the roof of the net.

However, the home side were not to be denied the lead at the second buzzer, as with three seconds left, Michal Klejna netted, after man of the match Liam Morris’ shot had been blocked.

A Bordowski penalty early in the final session saw Michael Farn test Alex Mettam in the home goal and then King produced a great save to deny Ashley Tait shorthanded.

The sides then swapped powerplay opportunities.

Streatham were then given another man advantage and as Bordowski returned to the ice,

Ryan Webb was able to force the puck home from close range to tie the game up at 3-3.

The Streatham goalscorer was then sent to the sin bin for high sticking Klejna, but the Bison were unable to score on the late powerplay, so sending the game into overtime.

The extra session lasted just 12 seconds, as Cowley scored from a lovely feed from Bordowski.

The victory over Streatham moved the Herd level on points with second placed Peterborough, who they play tonight (5.30pm) in Cambridgeshire.