Paisley Pirates-match report

SOLWAY SHARKS   6                      PAISLEY PIRATES   1

Both sides lined up for this pre-season challenge minus several players, with Pirates obliged to borrow a set of strips due to the non delivery of their new outfits. The visitors iced their latest signing, Ross Jordan, returning after a 5 year absence playing in England.

Solway settled the quicker and were ahead as early as the second minute, as Moore was on hand to net the opener, in what proved to be the only goal of the period. The home team, who had beaten North Ayr Wild 8-1 in another challenge match the previous evening, looked the sharper of the two teams in the early stages and continued to have the majority of the play, with Pirates conceding 3 penalties in the period, Turley, Spiers and Bain all spending time in the sin bin. However, the shorthanded visitors staved off any further damage to the scoreboard, going in at the end of the first period 1-0 behind.

Into the middle session, and the hosts continued to show the ability of their higher league status, netting further counters first through Coulter in the 25^th minute, then a quickfire double by Henderson just after the halfway mark took the game well beyond Pirates, who continued to display their renowned fighting qualities without disturbing the scoreboard, leaving the hosts heading for the dressing room at the end of 40 minutes nursing a comfortable 4-0 advantage.

With only the final period remaining, Pirates were looking to give their travelling supporters something to cheer, but while they tested Hobbins in the home goal on a number of occasions, they couldn’t make the breakthrough, and the Sharks’ two imports, Miettingen and Senko, inflicted further damage with two more goals either side of the midway point. The visitors never gave up, however, and their fans got their moment with less than five minutes to go as Chris Turley forced the puck home, on an assist by Martyn Guy, to give them the goal which their effort merited. A further minor penalty called on Chris Wilson in the final minute counted for nothing, and Pirates saw out the remaining seconds with ease.

While disappointed with the final result, which was perhaps a little unflattering on the visitors, they can be happy with getting a high quality 60 minutes under their belts in advance of facing Kilmarnock Storm in their opening SNL fixture this Sunday, the match facing off at 6.00pm.