Basingstoke Buffalo 13 Altrincham Aces 4 (Basingstoke won 22-9 on agg)

HISTORY was made on Saturday in Basingstoke as the Buffalo became the first ever southern division team to make the final of the English National League play-offs.

Until now, the top two northern sides have always met head to head after seeing off their southern counterparts.

The Buffalo will now meet Whitley Bay in the final, with the first leg in the North-East on Sunday and the return in Basingstoke on May 11.

Saturday's game was eventful in front of a bumper crowd and the visitors opened the scoring at 2:33 when Arram Richardson netted.

Soon after, the Aces were given a powerplay and the alarm bells began to sound but they were silenced as Drew Campbell again showed his lethal finishing with a short-handed strike, completing a move which saw Ian Parsons' pass set free Anthony Page.

Within a minute, the Aces regained the lead through man-of-the-match Jason Hewitt but once more Campbell replied before he completed his hat-trick.

Either side of the period break, the visitors' back-chatting to the referee earned them a string of penalties which the home side took advantage of, with Anthony Page and Simon Beere netting a Ryan Cathcart rebound to make it 5-2.

The Buffalo were now in full flow and it was no surprise when man-of-the-match Darren Elliott and Page made the tie safe.

The Aces pulled a goal back from Hewitt on the powerplay but the Buffalo replied with their own powerplay strike as Beere netted a Rob Etheridge pass.

This prompted the Altrincham coach to send the whole of his team on to the ice to complain about the refereeing - which, to be honest, was the best the Buffalo had seen all season.

As tempers heated up, Dave Shephard pushed one of the linesman which earned him his marching orders and he was joined in the dressing room at the same time by Richardson.

When everything had calmed down, the game restarted and Page completed a second-session hat-trick to make it 9-3, before Hewitt netted his treble strike to end the period scoring.

The final session saw Beere denied close in by a thrown stick from one of the visitors to earn the Buffalo a penalty shot, which Beere calmly dispatched into the top corner.

Tom Pope added the next goal with a nice piece of stick work by the post from a Nigel Sheppard pass.

The scoring was completed by Campbell and Beere in the final 10 minutes as the home side gave ice time to all their players with back-up netminder Dominic Bridger replacing the impressive Craig Astill.

After the game the Buffalo picked up their league championship trophy.

Delighted coach Ed Campbell said: "We started a little nervously but the guys came through and I am certain this scoreline will give Whitley something to think about."

He added: "It is great to be the first team from the south to get this far - now we have to go one step further and win it."

Scoring, Buffalo: Campbell 4+1, Beere 4+0, Page 3+4, Elliott 1+4, Pope 1+0, Parsons 0+2, Newberry, Sheppard, Kochli, Baker 0+1. Aces: Hewitt 3+0, Richardson 1+0, Allen 0+2, Price, Gemmell 0+1.

Shots on goal: Astill 27, Bridger 5, Verstappen 19, Thomas 13. Penalties: Buffalo 12min, Aces 158.