THE Basingstoke Bison produced one of their best away wins of the season, as they beat the Swindon Wildcats 5-2.

It was the first time in four attempts that the Herd have won at the Link Centre this season and the result leaves Swindon still in third, seven points behind leaders Basingstoke with a game in hand.

The home side made the better start in the contest, thanks to an early powerplay after Bison captain Aaron Connolly went to the sin bin.

Aaron Nell went closest to scoring as he fired in from between the circles, but Bison man of the match Dean Skinns denied him with a super shot.

The Herd’s Roman Malinik then tested Renny Marr and in the visitor’s first powerplay saw Dan Davies go close.

Swindon then opened the scoring as Edgars Bebris directed a pass from Steven Whitfield into the net at 10:54.

Soon after, the Herd were given their second powerplay of the night and then 15 seconds later tempers frayed as the home side’s Floyd Taylor and Dan Scott clashed and each earned four minutes for fighting.

However, this did not stop the Bison making the man advantage pay, as Roman Malinik netted at the back post from Ivan Antonov to tie the game at the first break.

The visitors then took control of the contest in the second session, with three unanswered goals.

Josh Smith netted the first at 23:58 from a Tomas Karpov pass and then the import forward turned provider again three minutes later as this time Davies scored at the near post to extend the lead to 3-1.

The home side tried to get back into the contest, but former Swindon stopper Skinns was having none of it and kept them at bay.

The Bison then extended their lead to three as Antonov fired home before the second buzzer.

Even trailing by three goals, with the firepower Swindon have, they were still in the contest and converted their first powerplay of the final 20 minutes as Chris Jones scored.

This cut the lead to two and as the game entered the final 10 minutes, they were twice given powerplay opportunities, but the Herd defence stood firm.

With less than two minutes left, Swindon went for broke and pulled their netminder.

The move backfired as Karpov hit the empty net with 58 seconds left, to complete the 5-2 victory.

The win continued a brilliant week for the Herd as last Wednesday they booked their place in the final of the Autumn Cup thanks to a 4-1 success at Hull, which saw them win the semi-final 8-4 on aggregate.

Karpov scored a super hat-trick and Malinik netted the other as the Bison came back from a goal down netted by Lee Bonner to win the tie.

They will now face Swindon in a two legged final.

Tonight, the Bison entertain the Cardiff Fire in a game which has a 5.30pm face-off.