THE Basingstoke Bison for the second week running were beaten at home by visitors from Yorkshire.

Last weekend, it was Sheffield and this time bottom side Leeds Chiefs took all the points, in a game in which the face-off was delayed by 45 minutes, due to the visitors arriving late.

The home side welcomed back from injury import Richard Bordowski, but were minus top British forwards George Norcliffe and Alex Sampford.

However, it was the visitors who opened the scoring at 4:53 as man of the match Ethan Hehir’s cross was converted by Liam Charnock at the back post.

Leeds’ Lewis Houston then tested Alex Mettam, while the lively Adam Barnes also went close.

The highlight of the first 20 minutes for the Bison, was a lovely solo skate from Bayley Harewood, which saw him glide past too Leeds players and if he scored it would have been one of the goals of the season, but Sam Gospel denied him.

The Herd looked a lot better in the second period with Bordowski and Adam Harding linking up well, but both times Gospel made the saves.

The visitors were now under a lot of pressure, but when they did break out they were clinical.

This proved to be the case at 28:27, as long bomb pass down centre ice by Luke Boothroyd saw Barnes apply the finish.

Soon after, the Herd came their closest yet, as Bordowski pinged the puck off the frame of the goal.

Then at 31:54, the home side opened their account as Ashley Tait’s blue line shot was tipped in by Ryan Sutton on the powerplay.

This signalled the start of the annual Teddy Bear Toss as cuddly toys rained onto the ice and were collected up to be given to Naomi House.

The omens looked good for a comeback, but Barnes so nearly added a third for Leeds after being released by Sam Zajac.

Then the visitors did make it 3-1 as Hehir once again found Charnock to score.

The home side having switched their forward lines around for the start of the third period got the perfect start.

After just 52 seconds club captain Elliott Dewey scored his first goal of the campaign with a nice wrist shot.

Within a minute, the Bison’s Michal Klejna hit the pipework as once again the home side looked to pile on the pressure, but with no result.

Meanwhile at the other end Leeds added a fourth goal at 47:27, as Barnes released Hehir and after his first effort on the back hand was saved by the pads of Mettam. The Leeds player slotted home the rebound.

As the home side poured forward, gaps appeared at the back and Charnock went close to completing his hat-trick, while Houston also had a breakaway chance saved.

With 30 seconds left, the home side pulled their netminder for the extra skater, but was unable to score, while Leeds twice missed the empty net.

Jay King was the worthy winner of the Bison’s man of the match for a solid performance on defence as well as getting many attacks going.

Tonight (5.30pm), the Bison have a chance for quick revenge, when they play Leeds again in Basingstoke, in what is a Chiefs home game, as their new rink has still not opened.