THE Basingstoke Bison opened their play-off campaign with an excellent 5-2 victory at Streatham, in their quarter-final first leg tie.

Just 10 seconds into the contest, the home side were given a powerplay after the Bison were penalised for too many men on the ice.

However, the Herd killed the penalty and then took the lead with their first shot of the game at 4:59.

Man of the match Danny Ingoldsby fired into the roof of the net after great spade work from Michal Klejna.

Soon after, the home side went close, but Alex Mettam was equal to Scott Bailey’s tip on a Leigh Jamison’s shot.

Tempers then boiled over which saw Streatham’s Michael Farn, Adam Wood, along with Bison’s Hallam Wilson and Alex Sampford all go to the sin bin.

The Bison then doubled their lead as Ingoldsby scored his second of the night from Russ Cowley.

Ingoldsby was in the action again but this time ended up in the penalty box for tripping. The powerplay saw Streatham’s Wood hit the bar with a shot.

The home side got the best possible start to the second session, as their man of the match Alex Roberts scored after good work from Jamieson, after just 64 seconds However, the Bison replied two minutes later, as Jay King fired in from the point to make it 3-1.

Roberts with a close-range finish then got his second of the night to keep the home side in the contest.

As the second session ended tempers flared again, with most of the players on the ice as the buzzer had gone.

This incident saw three players dismissed, Streatham’s Adam Wood and Herd’s Ashley Tait and King.

Wood and Tait were assessed game misconducts for resisting an official and King also picked up a game penalty for third man in.

The Herd’s Dan Weller-Evans was also given a 10-minute misconduct and in addition Wood picked up two minutes for roughing and four for fighting, while Tait also got four for fighting.

This gave the Bison a powerplay to start the final period and they were then given another, just as it expired, during which the visitor’s Adam Harding hit the pipework.

The Bison then gave themselves some breathing space in the contest as Sampford scored from close range at 52:55.

This was quickly followed by a Herd powerplay after former Bison Jacob Ranson departed for tripping.

The Bison made the most of the extra man as Sampford forced the puck home to complete the 5-2 win.

Tonight (5.30pm), the Herd face Streatham in the second leg on home ice.

The winners will meet either Peterborough or Milton Keynes and last night Peterborough won the first leg 7-3.

In the other two quarter-final matches, Swindon beat Invicta 11-1 and the Raiders against Bracknell clash finished all square.