Nottingham Panthers 4 Basingstoke Bison 2

LADY Luck was certainly not on the side of the Basingstoke Bison on Sunday night in Nottingham after the home side's second goal was given by referee Michael Hicks despite not going in.

Bison boss Mark Bernard, who was between the pipes for the second game running, said: "I have watched it on the video and it hit the post, which is what the goal judge said, but the referee did not consult him. We are having a hard enough time as it is without having goals given that don't go in.

"That gave them a two-goal lead, which made our life much more difficult."

The Herd's injury list took another blow before the game as John Wheaton was missing with a leg injury. Fellow Canadian forward Brad Cruikshank was already out with a groin injury and defenceman Andy Sande was ruled out due to slight concussion.

The home side took the lead at 9:57, thanks to Stefan Sjogren, and then Brandin Cote added the controversial second at 11:20.

The Panthers looked to have added a third five minutes later as Cote slotted home, but this time referee Hicks did disallow the goal as Shaun Sutter was standing in the goal crease.

The second session saw Nottingham's man-of-the-match Joe Cardarelli add a third, before the Herd got on the scoreboard as Jerry Galway netted on a powerplay just 11 seconds into the man advantage.

Cardarelli made the game safe with the home side's fourth, before Edijs Brahmanis completed the scoring with a nice strike from a Greg Chambers pass at 50:33. Scoring; Panthers: Cardarelli 2+0, Cote, Sjogren 1+0, Sutter, Tessier 0+2, Clarke, Emersic, Sebastian 0+1; Bison: Brahmanis, Galway 1+0, Maltby, Chambers, Sheppard 0+1. Shots on Goal: Cruickshank 23, Bernard 46. Penalties: Panthers 10min, Bison 16.

First published: Thursday, November 17, 2005