Basingstoke Bison 4, Belfast Giants 2

THE Bison dented the Elite League title hopes of visitors Belfast on Saturday night.

It was the third Bison win in five meetings between the two teams this season, and the Irish side's only two defeats in their last 12 matches have both been in Basingstoke.

After a highly-entertaining clash, made sweeter by the victory, delighted Basingstoke head coach Mark Bernard said: "That was a tremendous performance and full credit to all the guys.

"We have had a lot of success against Belfast this season and we were keen to continue that tonight.

"I think the line of Tony Redmond, Greg Wood and Shaun Thompson were great, three times in the third period drawing a penalty from Belfast. Ronnie (Vogel) was a rock at the back tonight and that should help silence his critics."

The Herd got off to a dream start as Jason Norrie scored from close-range after just 23 seconds, finishing a move involving Jerry Galway and Steve Gallace.

With plenty of checks being dealt out by both sides, the penalties soon started to flow and Belfast equalised on their first powerplay of the night as Curt Bowen fired home from the blue line at 6:12.

Three minutes later, Giants' Jason Bowen clashed with Bison goal-scorer Norrie, which earned the home forward six minutes for roughing to Bowen's four.

On the powerplay, Bison man-of-the-match Ronnie Vogel, in superb form throughout, kicked away a one timer from Curt Bowen.

The Herd then had the better of the rest of the session with Duncan Dalmao's bursts from defence causing problems.

It was a fair reflection of the opening period when the Bison regained the lead just before the buzzer.

Mike Ford, in his own end zone, played a backhanded pass into centre-ice. Shawn Maltby and Doug Sheppard then exchanged passes before Sheppard slotted home.

In the opening minute of the second session, the visitors were given 75 seconds of a two-man advantage, which saw Fredrik Nasvall denied twice by Vogel from close-range.

Belfast, at this point, were piling on the pressure, but a rare Bison attack saw Maltby go close after a Ford shot was kicked away.

The excellent Vogel once again produced a great save to deny Belfast man-of-the-match Todd Kelman as he looked to drill home a shot from a George Awada pass.

At 32:49, referee Andy Carson was again jeered by the home fans when Belfast were given another two-man advantage - this time for 86 seconds.

Bison netminder Vogel was again called into action, plucking a bullet from the stick of Tony Hand out of the air as if it was not moving at all.

Then a great passing move looked set to give Curt Bowen an easy tap-in, but Vogel read the play perfectly and made the save.

Again the Herd killed off the penalties and were then given their own powerplay.

However, it was the Giants who scored shorthanded as Bowen netted his second of the night, converting a Fredrik Nasvall cross from close-range at 39:10.

The first penalty of the final period left Belfast shorthanded, but only another great save from Vogel stopped George Awada from scoring at the back post from a Hand pass.

Then, for the third time in the game, Belfast were given another two-man advantage.

Again the Bison did well to kill off the penalty, with Jeff Ewasko going close as he skated out of the sin-bin to latch on to a poor clearance from Belfast netminder Martin Klempa.

As the game entered its final 10 minutes, Vogel was called upon to save from Hand one-on-one.

That proved a big stop as, three minutes later, Gallace's blue-line shot left Klempa motionless on his line as it hit the net.

Just 61 seconds later, it became 4-2 as Mike Ford scored a brilliant solo goal to make it 4-2.

The Belfast players then lost the plot and, seconds later, Awada took exception to Redmond trying to poke home a rebound and was given a roughing penalty.

In the final two minutes, a horrific slash by Belfast player-coach Hand on Brent Pope, saw Awada launch himself at Pope.

All three players made their way to the sin-bin, but the bad feeling did not stop there. Hand threw a water bottle at Pope to earn himself a 10-minute misconduct penalty.

Scoring: Bison: Gallace, Norrie 1+1, Ford, Sheppard 1+0, Maltby, Ewasko, Galway 0+1. Giants: C Bowen 2+0, Nasvall 0+2, Angelstad 0+1.

Shots on goal: Vogel 41, Klempa 42.

Penalties: Bison 26min, Giants 32.