ALEX Mettam recorded his first shut-out of the season as the Basingstoke Bison beat the visiting Leeds Chiefs 2-0.

The Herd netminder turned away all 18 shots he faced on his way to the home side’s man of the match award.

Despite the narrow scoreline the Bison dominated this game for long periods and should have led by more than 1-0 at the first buzzer.

The was due to an excellent performance from the visitors’ man of the match Sam Gospel.

He was soon in action as the impressive Sam Talbot, Ashley Tait and Paul Petts all went close in the opening four minutes.

This set the tone for the first period with the deadlock finally being broken at 13:33, as Ashley Tait fired home from the top of the circle from a lovely pass from Sean Norris.

The home side went looking for a second goal before the first break with Alex Sampford and Tait both unlucky not to have scored.

Then in the final two minutes of the first period, Mettam was called into action to stop Adam Barnes scoring an equaliser.

After the interval, the Bison started the better with Tait’s effort on the back hand going just over.

Then a stray pass from the Leeds’ Lewis Houston saw Michal Klejna rifle a shot into the stomach of Gospel.

Ryan Sutton was next to be denied by the Chiefs’ goalie after a nice feed from Richard Bordowski.

Mettam at the other end of the rink, had to be alert from Houston’s wrist shot.

The Bison then got a deserved second goal as Richard Bentham’s attempted pass across his own defensive zone was knocked down by Norris into the path of Klejna, who made no mistake at 31:42.

After this the game became a more even affair with the visitors having a number of chances, but Mettam kept them out.

After the interval, Leeds’ Calum Robertson and Barnes were both denied early on, before the home side were given a five-on-three advantage.

This happened when Adam Jones’ blue line shot hit Chiefs’ Bentham and he fell to the ice.

The players looked at the officials for a whistle, but they waved play on in the Leeds end zone, where Bentham was laid.

However, a few seconds later, play was stopped, and Leeds’ Liam Charnock rightfully told the referee he should have blown the whistle earlier.

This earned him a two-minute penalty for abuse of an official and he joined Houston in the sin bin.

During the powerplay, Sean Norris was denied by a great double stop by Gospel.

With five minutes left, the visitors came their closest to scoring in the game, as Robertson’s shot hit the post.

Then as Leeds tried to pull their netminder in the final two minutes, the Herd kept the puck around their net and Gospel made one last great save with three seconds left from George Norcliffe.

After the game player/coach Tait said: “It was nice to get a win and a shut-out. It also means we move back above Hull which is great.”

This evening (5.15pm) the Bison are away at Milton Keynes.