Basingstoke Bison 3, Newcastle Vipers 2

THE Bison completed a seasonal double over visiting Newcastle on Saturday night to make up for a fruitless trip to Belfast 24 hours earlier, when they were beaten 6-0.

It was important for the Herd to get something out of the weekend and they certainly started the better against the Vipers with Greg Wood, and then Doug Sheppard, testing Vipers netminder Doug Teskey.

However, it was the Vipers who opened the scoring as Matt Beveridge netted on the powerplay at 8:56 from close-range.

Soon after, under-staffed Newcastle, already minus imports Paul Ferone and Rob Trumbley, lost Karl Culley as he was hit in the face from a shot from his team-mate Simon Leach.

The home side drew level at 10:18, as Jeff Ewasko celebrated being named Supporter's Club player-of-the-month for January by scoring with a blistering shot, which flew into the roof of the net from the left wing.

The Bison went close again after Dean Phillimore was crunched into the boards by Vipers man-mountain Chris McAllister, but he got up and crossed the puck but Shaun Thompson's shot hit the post.

A minute later, the Herd took the lead when Shawn Maltby's cross was drilled through the netminder's legs by Mike Ford.

The second session started brighter for the home side before the visitors edged their way back into the contest. But, for all the pressure, it remained 2-1.

After the break, the Bison were first to attack. Steve Gallace. trying hard to score against his old team. and man-of-the-match Owen Walter both had shots saved.

Bison netminder Ronnie Vogel was forced to save as Shaun Johnson and Hilton Ruggles both went close.

Midway through the session, and with the Bison short-handed, a Jason Norrie shot was gloved away by Teskey, but only as far as Mike Ford, whose shot hit the post.

Soon after, the Herd were given a power-play and it took them just three seconds to score. Maltby won the face-off and Doug Sheppard's shot clipped the post on the way into the net to make it 3-1.

Back came the Vipers as their coach shuffled the lines and it paid off as Jonathan Weaver netted from an acute angle, from man-of-the-match David Longstaff's pass.

Just 35 seconds later, Newcastle were given a powerplay, but it was Sheppard who came closest to scoring with a breakaway, Teskey making an excellent save.

The visitors pulled their netminder in the dying seconds, but were unable to force an equaliser.

The previous night in Belfast, Martin Klempa and Chris McGimpsey shared a shut-out.

Diarmuid Kelly gave the Giants a first-period lead, before Maltby forced Klempa to save his short-handed breakaway effort.

Three unanswered goals from Shane Johnson, Marc Levers and Curtis Huppe ended the game as a contest.

For the final session, Dean Skinns took over from Vogel in the Bison goal, but the home side added two goals on the power-play, through George Awada and Todd Kelman, to complete the win.

Basingstoke head coach Mark Bernard said: "It was important for us to bounce back after a poor game in Belfast.

"Even if the win against Newcastle was not pretty, the two points is what we wanted to keep the pressure on London."

The Bison are next in league action on Wednesday night, when they travel to the Nottingham Panthers.