Basingstoke Buffalo 4 Bracknell Hornets 4

A GOAL 11 seconds from time denied the Basingstoke Buffalo victory in a hard-fought local derby against the visiting Bracknell Hornets on Sunday night.

The Gowrings Ford and Safeway-backed side knew they were in for a tough evening as the Hornets line-up was beefed-up by five of the Bracknell Bees Brits.

The opening period was tied as Buffalo man-of-the-match Mark Jordan put away an Anthony Page pass at 5:45, only for Adrian Wheeler to tie the game a minute later.

After that, Simon Beere, with a great rush down the ice, forced Hornets' man-of-the-match Matt Cameron to save.

Vicki Robbins, in her start to the season, did well to block a Danny Cox shot as he looked set to score.

The second period belonged to the home side as they out-shot the visitors 23-5.

Michael Leary gave them the lead as he fired home from the right wing after being fed by Ryan Cathcart at 21:46.

A minute later, both 'keepers were at their best as Buffalo's Rob Etheridge was denied and so was Danny Hughes -the pick of the Bees line-up.

Both Nigel Sheppard and Cathcart had shots saved, before the home side made it 3-1.

Drew Campbell just tossed the puck into space in the Hornets end zone and Page out-paced the final defender to collect the puck and slot it under Cameron at 32:46.

The Hornets pulled a goal back with an early powerplay after the break, thanks to Hughes after the impressive James Sanderson had been harshly penalised.

Soon after, Beere set up Greg Wyatt but he just failed to put the puck through the visiting goalie's legs.

At 48:02, Etheridge was left in a heap after a blind side challenge from Hornets' Richard Hardy which, amazingly, went unpunished.

The home side added a fourth goal in the 54th minute as Page found Jordan all alone at the red line and the forward skated from there, beating Cameron one-on-one to take the score to 4-2.

The Hornets got themselves back into the contest with a super top-shelf finish by Parsons which lodged in the netting above the crossbar.

Into the final minute of the contest, Page, on a breakaway, was denied by Cameron, who was pulled with 30 seconds left.

With the extra man the Hornets grabbed their late equalising goal, which was credited to Hyman but scored by Parsons.

The Buffalo are next in action at home on November 2 (6.30pm) when the Streatham Redskins are the visitors.

Scoring; Buffalo: Jordan 2+1, Page 1+2, Leary 1+0, Campbell 0+2, Cathcart 0+1; Hornets: Parsons, Wheeler, Hughes 1+1, Hyman 1+0, Danny Cox 0+2. Shots on Goal: Robbins 24, Cameron 46. Penalties: Buffalo 28 min, Hornets 28.