THE Basingstoke Bison suffered a heartbreaking overtime loss to the visiting league leaders the Swindon Wildcats last Friday evening.


The tenth placed Herd produced a great performance as they clawed their way back from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 and then led 6-5 with nine minutes left.  However table topping Swindon stole the win in overtime. 


The form book went to plan early on, as Swindon took the lead after 82 seconds on the powerplay. A Caden Villegas pass from just inside the blue line found an unmarked Aaron Nell at the back post.


The advantage was doubled at 6:10, as Villegas again was the provider, this time for Chris Jones who fired in from the left wing.


The home side hauled themselves back into the contest, as Adam Harding scored from close range after a lovely passing move which involved Zach Shankar, Luke Spadafora and Brendan Sellan.


Into the second period and the Bison levelled things up at 23:31, after Spadafora buried his own rebound off a Swindon defenceman.


This gave the home side the momentum and after a number of good chances Spadafora forced his way to the net only to be upended by Edgars Bebris at 29:08. 


This saw the Bison awarded a penalty shot, which their man of the match Luke Spadafora converted with a lovely shot through the legs of Renny Marr for a 3-2 lead. Suddenly a shock win against the league leaders looked on.


Seconds later, the Herd nearly netted a fourth as Zack Milton tipped a Tom Relf shot.


Basingstoke’s Max Wright was then called into action as he denied Nell, Dylan Lipsey and Logan vande Meerakker.


At the other end of the rink a great low bullet from Sellan saw Marr make a great save.


The visitors then equalised as Lipsey went clear down the left wing and his cross was met by Bebris at the back post.


Just two minutes later, Swindon’s Villegas fired home to make it 4-3 at the second break.


Just 24 seconds into the final period, a great save by Wright denied Nell from close range.


The Herd then squared the game once more, as defenceman Zach Shankar scored his first ever Bison goal with a low bullet from the blue line. 


Swindon replied with Nell’s second, after a great pass from their man of the match Ryan Wells to make it 5-4.


The Herd hit back within a minute, as Zack Milton fought his way to the net, his shot came back off Marr and Alex Sampford poked home the rebound.


Then at 50:47, the Bison faithful were on their feet again as Spadafora found Shankar behind the net and he fed Sellan. Sellan’s first chance was saved, but he made no mistake with his second attempt.


With nine minutes left could the Herd hold out for a famous win as Swindon now trailed 6-5.


The Wildcats made sure that was not the case thanks to some solo magic from vande Meerakker at 56:47.


With no further scoring the game went to sudden death overtime and it was Swindon who snatched the extra point at 61:22. 


Villegas and Wells combined and found an unmarked Bebris at the back post, after he had ghosted in from the bench.


On Sunday night in Hull it was a hard fought contest, which was decided by three unanswered goals in the final period.


The first period was dominated by the Bison with Sellan, Shankar and Spadafora all denied in the opening 10 minutes.


They continued to have the upper hand and took a deserved lead at 15:48 on the powerplay.


Shankar’s pass found Sellan in the slot his shot was saved and Will Stead put away the rebound.


As the session came to an end the frustrations of the home side boiled over as Bobby Chamberlain punched netminder Max Wright after they exchanged words with nine seconds left.


Lee Bonner then did likewise to Sellan after the final face-off of the period.


The second session opened with the visitors on the powerplay and they were encamped in the Hull end zone with Bison man of the match Zack Milton going close a couple of times.


Hull having swapped around their forward lines equalised from Bobby Chamberlain.


After this the home side created the better chances and with eight minutes left in the period, the Bison called a time out to re focus and it did the trick as it remained 1-1 at the second buzzer.


Hull netted three minutes after the interval, as Lee Bonner converted an excellent pass from Lee Haywood.


Soon after only a superb save from Hull’s man of the match Aleksanteri Heiskanen denied Spadafora, after a great feed from Sellan.


Hull extended their lead at 49:50, as their young Brit line struck thanks to Beau Reader.


The game as a contest ended at 56:10 after Johnny Cornell’s fortunate powerplay goal deflected in off the skate of Brendan Baird. 


This weekend the Bison are at home to the Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday (6.30pm) and then travel to Telford Tigers on Sunday (6pm).