Bracknell Bees secured a vital win over Peterborough Phantoms at The Hive on Saturday after being less than a minute away from losing.

They trailed 2-1 until Vanya Antonov brought the scores level with just 57 seconds left and then went to snatch a 3-2 victory in over-time thanks to Shaun Thompson's sharp strike.

Head coach Doug Sheppard described it as a "huge character win for us," adding "The fightback we showed to earn the two points we needed to get impressed me."

Bees started the game well and their early pressure paid off with a goal from Josh Martin with 14:50 on the clock with Roman Malink and Thompson getting the assists.

Fortunate to be just the one goal down, the visitors made a strong start to the second period and midway through they delivered a quick one-two to leave the Bees reeling.

James Ferrara brought the scores level at 30:39 and just 12 seconds of play later Martins Susters fired Phantoms in front.

They went looking for a third, only to find net-minder Dean Skinns in fine form, however, Jordan Marr was equally as busy at the other end of the rink as Bees battled to get back on level terms.

Marr continued to thwart the hosts in the final period and, with the minutes ticking away, it looked as if he would end up on the winning side.

With 83 seconds remaining and Bees on the power-play, they called a time-out, withdrawing Skinns in favour of an extra skater and their numerical advantage paid off when Malinik's shot rebounded out to Antonov, who made no mistake at 59.03.

Overtime started with three on three and Bees getting in the three early shots, but a charging call on Peterborough's Will Weldon gave Bees a man advantage.

And a second after Weldon’s penalty expired, Thompson hammered a shot past Marr with Tyler Vankleef providing the assist.

The Berkshire Cycles sponsored side deserved their win, having outshot their rivals 37-23.

And it was a disciplined performance, only incurring six penalty points, the same as Phantoms.

Skipper Joe Baird took a knock during the game and missed Sunday's 3-2 win at Milton Keynes Thunder.

Bees went ahead through Stuart Mogg at 15:32 before conceding goals to Hallden Barnes-Garner (17.09) and Alex Whyte at 19.49.

They upped the intensity for the next 20 minutes, outshooting Thunder by a wide margin of 25-2 and Antonov levelled the scores at 24:46 before Doughty secured victory with a power-play goal at 37:18.

By this time Bees were a man down with Vankleef picking up a five-plus game penalty for high sticks.

They continued to dominate the final period, however, none of their 17 shots managed to find a way past goalie Jordan Lawday.

In all, Bees totalled 53 shots compared to Thunder's 16.

Sheppard commented: "On Sunday, we obviously had a bit of a hangover from the previous night’s win and we came out flat and were made to pay. MK got the jump on us, but we played a solid second and third period to round up a nice four-point weekend.”

It lifted his side back to third place in NIHL South 1 behind Swindon Wildcats and Peterborough.

Bees visit the fourth club, Basingstoke, on Saturday (6.30pm face-off) before hosting fifth-placed Raiders on Sunday (6pm).

Last week, Bracknell met Swindon twice in aid of the Young Epilepsy Charity. They lost the away game 3-2, with Scott Spearing and Thompson on target before Max Birbraer scored a late winner.

Bees won the return 6-1 at The Hive, their goals coming from Harvey Stead, Malinik, Antonov, Josh Smith, Zach Milton and Thompson.

Coach Sheppard commented: "I’m obviously pleased with the performances that we put in and the series win we achieved, but I think Young Epilepsy was the winner with a significant amount raised and hopefully awareness of their work also increased."