The visitors made a sensational start and took the lead in the opening period when a long pass from Jan Bendik to Vanya Antonov saw the latter break down the wing before passing back to Bendik who let fly from distance and Matt Towalski deflected the puck past Sam Gospel in the Tigers net.

Chances came and went at either end - and Bees’ netminder Alex Mettam was in sensational form - before Lukas Smital’s men doubled their advantage with just 90 seconds left in the first period.

And it was the player-coach (pictured right) who netted, taking a fine pass from Antonov and drilling it past the helpless Gospel.

The Bees found themselves in penalty trouble early in the second period as first Bendik and then Radek Hubacek made their way to the penalty box.

With the latter off the ice the Tigers scored their first of the evening when the pressure finally told on the Bees and a rink wide pass was one-timed from the blue line past Mettam by ex-Bee Dan Davies.

A couple more quick penalties saw the Bees killing the powerplay again and again but the Tigers struck with the extra man advantage this time through Jonathan Weaver, whose blast from the blue line beat the screened Mettam to tie the scores.

Chances continued to come and go at both ends but the sides entered the final period on level terms.

It was the hosts who took the honours, though, as Joe Miller scored four minutes from time to break the Bees’ hearts and deny them even a point.

Man of the match for Bracknell went to young defenceman Lewis Turner.

The Bees had fallen to a 4-2 reverse at the Basingstoke Bison the night before.

After an entertaining opening, Bracknell took the lead in the ninth minute when - with the hosts a man down - Antonov and Hubacek set up Smital who smashed the puck past netminder Dean Skinns.

The second period was largely uninsipring with chances few and far between, though Hubacek forced a fine save from Skinns.

However the Bison almost immediately went down the other end and levelled courtesy of a superb strike by Michael Wales.

And the hosts took the lead 20 seconds into the final period when Joe Rand netted before Ciaran Long made it 3-1.

Bracknell sacrificed Mettam for an extra skater in the last two minutes and cut the gap through James Galazzi, but the Bison sealed the win when scoring into an empty net to make it 4-2.

The Bees host Manchester Phoenix in the league this coming Saturday (6pm), before travelling to Invicta Dynamos in the English Challenge Cup on Sunday (5.15pm).