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Herd through to EPL Cup final

steve_moriaIt was two wins in three games for Basingstoke Bison last week.

The Herd booked their place in the English Premiere League Cup final after a 6-4 win against Manchester Phoenix on Thursday last week.

And a 3-1 victory at home in the league against Sheffield Steeldogs continued their winning run.

But a 3-4 loss on penalties away at Milton Keynes Lightning scuppered chances of a clean sweep.

Bison travelled to Manchester for the second leg of the EPL Cup semi-final trailing a goal following their 2-3 loss at home on Tuesday last week.

An opening goal from Viktor Kubenko within the first two minutes set the tone of the match where the Bison retained the upper hand for 60 minutes.

Callum Best netted the second before Manchester's Curtis Huppe brought the home side back into the game.

A quick reply from Ondrej Lauko kept the Bison's advantage before Stephen Wallis scored near the 15 minute mark.

But Mindy Kieras brought the lead to 4-2 just before the first buzzer. By the end of the second period, Ollie Bronnimann and Lauko made it six, with Manchester only netting one in return.

Tempers frayed in the last 20 and Lauko and Kieras were both sent to the sin bin and Manchester's Tony Hand made use of the two-man advantage to score past Dean Skinns.

But the Bison defence shut down Manchester's hunt for an aggregate equaliser and they even pulled their netminder in the last minute to boost the attack.

But it was unsuccessful and the Bison celebrated an 8-7 win on aggregate. They will face either Guildford Flames or Slough Jets in the final. The first leg is scheduled for March 9.

In the league, Herd fans were treated to a win against visiting Sheffield. Kubenko did not hang around, scoring past Ben Browns after three minutes.

And before the minute had finished, Nicky Chinn doubled the score from a Ciaran Long set-up.

After two-minutes of the second period, Sheffield got on the score sheet as Chris Sykes slotted past netminder Tom Annetts.

Sheffield man-of-the-match Browns produced several strong saves to deny Bison's goal hunt. The young keeper faced double the number of shots on goal than home keeper Annetts during the 60 minutes. But just before the third buzzer, strong play from Best set up Kieras, who had no trouble slotting past Browns to wrap up the scoring.

Despite dominating the last two fixtures, Bison fought hard to earn a draw after normal time at home against Milton Keynes on Sunday, but only to lose out on penalties.

The Lightning opened the scoring after 16 seconds as Nick Poole beat Skinns. Bison held the MK attack in the first period, but could not beat netminder Barry Hollyhead.

And Bison failed to score in the second period, while MK doubled their lead through Gary Clarke.

Welsh forward Ben Davis opened Bison's scoring in the third period and Lauko levelled the score, to the delight of home fans.

But Adam Carr dampened celebrations on 54 minutes, putting Lightning back into the lead.

Bison refused to bow down and Kubenko completed the comeback with three minutes left of play after a finishing a Bronnimann set-up.

The five-minute sudden-death failed to drum up the winning goal and both sides watched anxiously as the forwards went to penalties.

Hollyhead was on top form saving attempts from Lauko, Moria and Kubenko. Skinns managed to deny Blaz Emersic before Carr netted the winning penalty.

This Saturday, Bison face Slough Jets at home before travelling to Bracknell Bees on Sunday.