Basingstoke Bison 1, Nottingham Panthers 2

THE Wella Bison deserved at least a point for their efforts on Saturday night at the Planet Ice Silver Dome Arena. Before the start, the Nottingham fans made known their dislike for referee Andy Carson as he was soundly booed while skating past them.

He is probably more popular with them now after awarding five powerplay opportunities to the Panthers. Although Basingstoke are the best penalty-killers in the Elite League, the visitors eventually made the man advantage tell.

At 48:58, John Craighead's shot through traffic hit the back of the net. The home players appealed that the goal should have been disallowed because of interference but Carson was not moved.

A minute later, the Bison faithful could not believe their eyes as their side were given a man advantage and as that penalty ran out they were given another.

On the second penalty, they equalised as Phil Roy slid the puck across to Dave Geris. The giant defenceman mis-hit his shot but Steve Moria collected to net at 52:8.

This fired up the home side and the impressive Martin Filip shot just over on the backhand and Moria forced another save.

The game-winning goal came at 55:11. After Calle Carlsson had smashed a shot off the crossbar, the visitors picked up the pieces and man-of-the-match Marc Cadotte scored.

The drama was still not over. Linesman Lee Young blew his whistle as he felt the Bison had too many men on the ice. But, unlike in the first period when a penalty was given, the referee this time did not give the penalty.

Seconds later, Bison Filip ran rings round the Panthers defence, and, in the panic, his team-mate Matt Reid had his helmet knocked off by the fist of Rob Stancok.

This gave the Bison 82 seconds with a man advantage which saw Moria direct a Geris shot just over while Geris also forced a final save out of Niklas Sundberg - both in the final 15 seconds of the game.

The opening session saw both teams have chances as Moria and Markku Takala went close before Bison man-of-the-match Curtis Cruickshank produced the save of the session.

He denied Craighead by one post and then leapt across the net to deny Kim Ahlroos from the rebound with the Panthers already celebrating a goal.

The main talking point of the first period came when Panthers' James Morgan checked Matt Reid illegally. No penalty was called and, seconds later, the pair clashed again with Reid dishing the check-out this time.

Not surprisingly, the young Brit took exception and grabbed Reid in front of the visitors' bench and both players got punches in before they became trapped against the boards. The outcome was a four-minute penalty each for roughing timed at 16:35.

Geris picked up the first penalty of the second period for hooking Cadotte and then David Struch flicked up Moria's stick as he tried to get to the puck but, unfortunately, got caught himself in the face.

To the amazement of the home fans, the Bison player-coach was given a high-sticking penalty and the Panthers had 82 seconds of a two-man advantage.

Bison trio Roy, Chris Slater and Blake Sorensen kept the visitors at bay before Read replaced Sorensen to complete the penalty-kill.

At 32:8, Cruickshank produced a great save to deny the speedy Cadotte and then Bison Czech star Filip showed super stickwork to set up Sorensen but Sundberg made the save from close-range.

The final period saw chances before the Panthers opened the scoring.

Home player-coach Moria said: "We are disappointed, as we should have got something out of the game. We had the better of the final period.

"We should have had a penalty, when they scored their first goal as Calle Carlsson kept one of our forwards out of the play - not once but twice! That is an interference call, but then the referee has not had a good night tonight."

Scoring, Bison: Moria 1+0, Roy, Geris 0+1; Panthers: Craighead , Cadotte 1+0, Struch, Koiuvnoro, Carlsson 0+1. Shots on goal: Cruickshank 46, Sundberg 32. Penalties: Bison 14min, Panthers 10.