Coventry Blaze 2, Basingstoke Bison 4

PIC- peter nyman

A BRILLIANT win in Coventry over the league leaders kept the Basingstoke Bison well and truly in the hunt for league honours.

The West Midlands side had not lost at home in the league since the opening day of the season back in September.

But after six wins on the trot at the Skydome, they were unable to make it seven as Tony Redmond and Bison man-of-the-match Matt Cote scored the only goals of the final period in the 4-2 win on Thursday night.

The victory was quick revenge for the Bison who were beaten 5-0 in the same arena just five days earlier in an ntl Cup clash.

An overjoyed Basingstoke Bison coach Charlie Colon said: "It was a tremendous game, never wide open, but we went there to play a frustrating defensive game and did really well to limit Coventry to just 21 shots."

"It was a very important win for us as we still have to play them twice this month, home and away, and two victories will take us above them in the standings."

In the game itself, Coventry opened the scoring as AJ Kelham netted at 5:25.

A rare penalty in the contest saw Hilton Ruggles depart at 15:56 for slashing and the Bison made the most of the extra man to score on the powerplay.

Big Swedish defenceman Peter Nyman scored his first goal for the club with a super shot into the roof of the net. The second session saw the visitors take the lead as Joe Baird scored at 25:16.

However, by the break, the Blaze were level as Kurt Irvine netted at 37:50.

This set up a tense final session and it was Redmond who broke the deadlock at 51:18 as the Bison shook off a Blaze attack and went on the attack.

With 39 seconds left, Coventry called a time-out and pulled netminder Henrik Sjodin for the extra skater. However it was Cote who found the empty net with 19 seconds left to seal the win.

Scoring; Bison: Baird, Cote, Nyman, Redmond 1+0, Daniels, O'Connell 0+2, Andersson, Liddiard 0+1; Blaze: Kelham 1+1, Irvine 1+0, Chapman 0+2. Shots on Goal: Foster 21, Sjodin 18; Penalties: Bison 4 min, Blaze 8.