The Bison’s run of good form came to a crushing halt over the weekend, with two losses.
On Saturday, the Herd left home fans disappointed with their 1-5 loss against Manchester Phoenix.
And on Sunday, league strugglers Bracknell Bee’s dominated the visiting Bison, winning 3-1.
The zero point weekend ended the Bison’s run of six wins on the trot and provided a sharp contrast to last weekend’s 14 goal haul against Slough, and Swindon.
Bison now lie sixth in the league after 20 games played, having won nine and lost nine. They are one point behind fifth placed Manchester and seven points adrift of league leaders Guildford Flames.
On Saturday, an early goal from Steve Moria put Basingstoke on the right path, netting after 37 seconds.
After keeper Matt Colclough denied Manchester’s Juraj Faith, Basingstoke broke free and Daniel Volrab found Moria waiting by the post to slot home the opening goal.
But after five minutes, Tom Duggan found the equaliser. Minutes later, Duggan found his second. Earlier, Viktor Kubenko was denied by Manchester keeper Stephen Fone.
Two minutes into the second period, Duggan found his hat trick after slotting home a Slava Koulikov pass.
And Manchester went 4-0 up when former Bison Ciaran Long smacked the puck against the backboards, with the rebound hitting Colclough’s skate for another goal.
In the second period, Manchester wrapped up the scoring with a powerplay goal from Ladi Harabin.
The final session saw the Bison desperately hunting for goals, but they were unable to break through Manchester’s defence.
The Herd’s bad luck continued on Sunday against Bracknell Bee’s. Earlier this season, Bison were stung 7-3.
Following on from Saturday, Bison opened the scoring, with Joe Miller netting in the first period.
But two minutes later, Martin Massa slotted past Colclough in the Bison net. But in the second period, Bracknell netted two goals in three minutes through Shaun Thompson and Peter Jasik.
Despite outgunning the Bees, hitting 52 shots on target to the Bees’ 20, the Herd could not find a way past netminder and man-of-the-match Carl Ambler.
On Saturday, Bison face the Telford Tigers at home before taking on Manchester Phoenix away on Sunday.
