Paisley Pirates Updates

To Dumfries 

In an astonishing curtain raiser to their season in the Stewart Robertson Trophy, Paisley Pirates racked up a record breaking 27-0 victory over a hapless Kilmarnock Thunder side which tried hard but were simply overrun by the ruthless visiting team who, from the time they opened the scoring in the 3rd minute through Connor Spiers, thereafter beat a regular path to the door of netminder Wilkie, who in the course of the match faced no fewer than 136 shots, and who deservedly won his side’s Man of the Match award. The scoreline easily surpassed Pirates’ biggest ever victory either home or away since they entered the Scottish National League.

The visitors shrugged off any notion of rust in their first competitive match of the season and were three up after six minutes, and the goals continued to flow to the extent that they were seven ahead at the first interval. After the resumption of play in the middle period, the flow of pressure was maintained towards Wilkie, who conceded another eight times as he continued to face a proverbial barrage of 52 shots during the session. Pirates replaced netminder Meechan, who in facing only 4 shots in his 30 minutes had been a virtual spectator, with Donaghy, who in the remainder of the fixture faced only 6.

With the score already standing at 15-0 by the end of the second session, Pirates kept their collective foot on the gas in the final session, finding the net on another twelve occasions to take the final tally to an eye watering 27-0. New signing Connor Duncan topped the scoring charts with seven, Guy and Man of the Match Henderson helped themselves to four apiece, while Jardine Wallace and Trinity High School pupil Zak Kenneth, in his competitive debut for Pirates, both chipped in with hat tricks.

SOLWAY SHARKS   14 PAISLEY PIRATES   3

Following their high scoring performance the previous evening, Pirates faced a far stiffer challenge on Sunday as they travelled to Dumfries to line up against the much fancied Solway Sharks, new entrants to the SNL and members of the more highly rated NIHL. The difference in standard between the two sides was evident as Pirates came back to earth with a bump, finding themselves seven goals down after one period and 10-0 in arrears after forty minutes.

The visitors did mount a rally in the third period, showing their fighting spirit to score three times through Abercrombie, Kenneth and Guy, but their efforts did no more than take the bare look from a score line which showed a 14-3 defeat at the end of sixty minutes of action, leaving them to reflect on a weekend of vastly differing fortunes.

Pirates are on the road again this weekend as they travel to Fife to face the Kirkcaldy Kestrels, 6-1 victors at Aberdeen last Saturday.