The Bison’s topsy-turvy run of form took a turn for the worse after they lost 4-5 to the visiting Sheffield Steeldogs on Saturday.
The loss follows a double defeat, and a win in a three games the week before.
Bison lie in sixth in the English Premiere Ice Hockey League after 25 games played. Saturdays loss sees them record 11 defeats this season to 10 wins
Bison started brightly with Victor Kubenko’s having a shot on goal, which fizzed off the post.
Tempers flared after five minutes when Chris Wiggins was involved in an incident with Andre Payette.
This resulted in a scuffle between Wiggins and Steve Duncombe, who were sin-binned for the remainder of the period.
And two minutes later, Kubenko and the Steeldog’s Ashley Calvert were binned for fighting, and then Ollie Bronnimann and Lloyd Gibson who squared up against each other. The referee sent the pair off for four minutes.
The end of the period saw the scores still 0-0. After the break, Bison netted when Steve Moria tapped in a rebound from a Sam Oakford shot.
And a minute later, Kubenko bagged his first and took Bison into a commanding 2-0 lead.
Shortly after, the Steeldogs got on the board when Stuart Brittle tapped in a Ben Morgan shot. Brittle levelled the scores seven minutes later.
Towards the end of the second period, Steeldogs took the lead when Calvert netted a rebound, putting the visitors 3-2 up.
In the third period, Bison were dealt a further blow when Edgar Bebris beat keeper Matt Colclough. And five-minutes later, they were leading 5-2 after Payette bagged his first.
But Bison refused to let go and Marcel Petran blasted home a goal after 54 minutes. Then, with 50 seconds left, Joe Miller made it 5-4.
In the dying second, Bison pulled keeper Colclough in favour of an extra skater, but were unable to force an equaliser.
The Bison are next in action on Boxing Day when they face Peterborough Phantoms at home.
