BRACKNELL Bees produced a vastly improved display but were still beaten 4-2 by Guildford Flames on Boxing Day, writes Dave Wright.

Having conceded seven to Basingstoke Bison a week earlier, they looked more solid in defence and were in the game right to the final minute when Flames scored their fourth.

And that was into an empty net, with Bees having withdrawn netminder Alex Mettam as they went in surge of a late equaliser.

Mettam earned the man-of-the-match award – his eighth this season – but his defenders also deserved some credit.

“Some of our D-men logged some big ice minutes,” said bench coach Rob Lamey.

“They went out there and played just as hard from the first shift to the last. It showed what character we have here.”

This was always going to be a particularly tough night for the Bees, as they were missing Josh Smith, Scott Spearing and Luka Basic due to injury, while Rio Grinell-Parke was on GB duty.

But those who took to the ice certainly battled hard for the whole of the 60 minutes.

Lamey saidemerged from the dressing room to tell the News: “The boys are disappointed as they feel they could have got more out of tonight.

“They gave it 110 (per cent) and the game was in the balance until just before the end.”

Former Flames player Lamey added: “Guildford are a good team. We didn’t give them many opportunities but a couple we did, unfortunately for us, they took advantage of them.

“We are simply giving away too many soft goals but the youngsters are learning and hopefully mistakes won’t be repeated.”

Bees fell behind to a goal from Ben Campbell with a little under 12 minutes on the clock.

They enjoyed a particularly good second period and deservedly drew level on 38:38 through Olegs Lascenko with assists from David Gaborcik and Harvey Stead.

But 26 seconds later, they were behind again when they allowed Danny Meyers too much room and he had time to find the net.

Marek Maslonika made it 3-1 to Flames on 52:15, but Bees continued to battle away and took advantage of their third powerplay opportunity of the night to reduce their deficit.

Following a time-out they called seconds earlier, the goal came from Stead on 54:56 with the chance being set up by Alex Barker and Shaun Thompson.

With Mettam withdrawn and on powerplay during the final two minutes, Bees pushed for an equaliser with Stead looking especially threatening.

But their hopes were crushed when Campbell slotted the puck into an empty net from the halfway line.

If Bees are to return to winning form at The Hive, they will need to produce something extra special against Peterborough tomorrow, 8pm, as they have not beaten the Phantoms in 22 league games during the last three-and-a-half seasons.

“They are a well-organised team, very disciplined and hard to break down,” admitted Lamey.

“But if we play the sort of game we can, go at them hard, don’t sit back, put the pressure on them, show lots of energy, there is no reason why we can’t break them down.”