THE joy on the faces of the Basingstoke Bison fans was clear to see as the Herd played on home ice for the first time in over two years.


However, the visiting Peterborough Phantoms proved to be party poopers as they left Hampshire with a 5-1 victory.


The Bison got off to an encouraging start roared on by the home fans but could not find a way past Hayden Lavigne, which was the story of the evening.


The first powerplay saw the Herd pile on the pressure as Luke Spadafora had two chances blocked and Tom Relf fired in a blue line bullet.


Lavigne then produced a great save to deny man of the match Brendan Sellan with a back handed effort.


The deadlock was broken at 18:45 as the well drilled Phantoms powerplay unit struck, as Cameron Hough netted at the back post


The Bison had some early chances in the second session as Zack Milton and Sellan both went close and Will Stead pinged a shot off the pipework.


The Herd’s goalie Max Wright was called into action to deny Corey McEwen on a breakaway.


The Phantoms then doubled their lead as their man of the match Morgan Clarke-Pizzo slotted in at the back post from a lovely pass from Luke Ferrara.


As the session came to a close Peterborough ran into penalty trouble, but despite Tom Relf and Hallam Wilson going close it remained 2-0 at the second buzzer.


An early Bison powerplay in the final session was then killed off and Jasper Foster stepped out of the sin bin and latched onto a pass from McEwan to score at 43:33. 


The biggest cheer of the night by the Bison fans was when Brendan Sellan scored from close range from Zach Shankar and Milton at 50:55.


This spurred the home side on and a powerplay soon after, saw Shankar denied twice from the blue line.


However, the Phantoms netted a fourth as Hough’s shot was saved and Dillon Lawrence netted the rebound.


The same combination struck again as Hough stole the puck at the blue line and fed Lawrence who scored his second of the evening to complete the 5-1 scoreline.


The previous night in Swindon, the Bison lost 7-1 thanks to a ruthless display from the Wildcats’ forwards.


They took the lead within the first four minutes as Glenn Billing tipped home a Ben O’Connor blue line shot.


O’Connor himself then doubled the advantage before the first break, after being allowed to skate into the slot and pick his spot.


Man of the match Tyler Watkins added a third at 37:18 after being fed from behind the net by Logan vande Meerakker.


The players then swapped roles as Watkins found vande Meerakker at the back post for a 4-0 advantage at the second break.


The Bison opened their account on the powerplay at 41:07 after leading goal scorer Tom Relf fired in from the blue line assisted by Adam Harding and Stuart Mogg.


Swindon replied a minute later as a great skate through centre ice from vande Meerakker saw him find Watkins who in turn passed to Chris Jones to score.


A lovely pass from Oskar Sagan to the back post saw Josh Shaw roof the puck into the net for number six.


The home side then added a seventh with a free flowing passing move as Owen Griffiths and Tomasz Malasinski combined for Aaron Nell to score.


The Bison are next in action on home ice on Saturday (6.30pm), when they take on the Milton Keynes Lightning.