BRACKNELL Bees gave Basingstoke Bison a real scare during their bottom-versus-top English Premier League clash on Saturday, writes Dave Wright.

The depleted Bees lost 3-1 but it wasn’t until the final stages of the game when the leaders netted their third goal to seal victory.

They lost the game in the opening period, conceding goals to Rene Jarolin after nine minutes and Shaun Thompson in the 16th.

Bison enjoyed more possession in the second period, but were kept at bay by some excellent work from net-minder Alex Mettam.

This appeared to boost confidence in the Bees camp and they gave as good as they received in the final period.

And their efforts were rewarded with a goal on 52:59 from Scott Spearing with James Galazzi getting the assist.

Bees, who had lost 3-2 at the same venue in December, went in search of the equaliser and Carl Thompson was not far away, only being denied by netminder Jon Baston.

But, in a tense finish, Bees were left deflated when Tomas Karpov grabbed Bison’s third from close range with exactly two minutes remaining.

Bees pulled Mettam for the final 61 seconds and there were chances at both ends, with Jan Bendik having the final shot of the match blocked.

Carl Graham took Bracknell’s player-of-the-match award.

On Sunday, it went to Josh Martin after the Hornets youngster had put in some hard-working shifts against Swindon.

Bees had lost 7-4 to the Wildcats a week earlier in a feisty encounter but last Sunday’s game was a lot less eventful affair with fewer goals and incidents.

The hosts shaded the early exchanges with visiting Jordan Hedley the busier of the two netminders, keeping out efforts from Thompson, Galazzi and Martin.

But Bracknell’s encouraging start came to a halt on 10:30 when Scott Spearing was penalised for a slashing offence. On his way to the sin-bin, he clashed with Aaron Nell and his penalty was increased to two plus two plus 10 for attempted spearing, while Nell was given two minutes to cool off.

Bees were inflicted another blow when they fell behind on 13:45. It was a soft goal to give away with Neil Liddiard being left unchallenged to set up an tip in for Tomasz Malasinski.

Only the post prevented Nell from increasing his side’s lead early in the second period, but Bracknell were defending well and generally containing their visitors with Mettam denying Nell and Jonas Hoog in quick succession.

They deservedly equalised in the 31st minute when pressure from Carl Thompson and Spearing led to Vanya Antonov turning the puck home.

But Bracknell were not level for long with the Wildcats knowing they had to step up their game.

They regained the lead through Nell on 36:29 and it became 3-1 on 37:46 when Nell was put clear by a delightful pass from Malasinski.

The in-form Mettam made sure the Wiltshire side did not concede again, and the final goal of the match came from Thompson with 77 seconds remaining.

Bees pulled Mettam but were unable to get back on level terms.

They remain rooted at the bottom of the table, with their 18-point haul leaving them three adrift of the sides immediately above them, Hull, and 15 behind third-from-bottom Manchester, who have two games in hand on their fellow strugglers.

Bees now have four home games in a row, with Milton Keynes visiting The Hive on Saturday and Manchester 24 hours later, both facing off at 6pm.