The Basingstoke Bison opened their league campaign with a 7-5 defeat at the hands of the high-flying Telford Tigers on Sunday night.
The home side raced into a 2-0 lead by the tenth minute, as Caelan McPhee fired in from the left wing and David Thomson poked home from close range on the powerplay.
The visitors hit back as Evan Nauth netted his first ever Bison goal at 10:07, assisted by Hallam Wilson and Marcus Bradley.
The Tigers were first to strike in the second session from Eric Henderson, but by 34:18 the scores were level thanks to a brace from Basingstoke Captain George Norcliffe.
His first goal came with helpers from Adam Harding and a first point for Stanley Johnston.
The equaliser was set up by imports Luke Spadafora and Brendan Sellan.
Bison man of the match Tom Relf edged his side in front for the first time in the contest at 46:04.
However, just 34 seconds later Thomson netted on the powerplay to level things up.
The Herd then made it 5-4 as Wilson fired home from Alex Sampford and netminder Max Wright picked up the other assist for his first point of the season.
As the game entered the final three minutes, the Bison ran into penalty trouble, and the Tigers took full advantage of a two-man advantage for man of the match Thomson to complete his hat-trick.
Still on the powerplay Telford scored again this time from Henderson to make it 6-5 at 58:22.
Soon after, the Herd pulled their netminder but were unable to force an equaliser as Thomson hit the empty net for his fourth of the night.
So, a great performance from the visitors saw them come up just short in their league opener.
The Herd are next in action on Saturday, October 11 away at Bristol and then the following night travel to Swindon.